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Kalan won the award of 3,000 euros for his investigation into the legal process arising from a minor road traffic accident involving the Polish prime ministerial limousine and a Fiat. The court case has dragged on for some five years, exposing a catalogue of incompetence and political interference within the Polish judiciary.

Instead of awarding prizes for second and third place, the jury this year decided to distribute the rest of the award fund between three journalists.

“We could not decide between the three of them because there are all good stories,” said Milorad Ivanovic, representative of the Fellowship alumni group in the Jury. “Each jury member had its preferences, and strong arguments for each of them. After three rounds of voting they still had an equal number of votes, and we just felt that this was the fair solution.”

As a result, a prize of 1,000 euro was given to Albanian journalist Klodiana Lala, Serbian journalist Marija Vucic, and Greek journalist Iason Athanasiadis.

The top prize was awarded to Kalan for the story, The Car Crash That Bent the Wheels of Polish Justice. Through meticulous reporting, he offered a ground-level view of the erosion of judicial independence in the case of a collision between a Fiat, driven by a student, and the prime minister’s limousine.

“Dariuz Kalan reveals what it means for an individual citizen when judicial checks and balances are undermined – you can become powerless if you clash with the powerful,” said Adelheid Wolfl, South Eastern Europe correspondent for Austrian der Standard. “He shows how important it is that we all look very carefully when the substance of democracy and the rule of is undermined in an EU member state like Poland. The storytelling also had a great rhythm, with an instinctive feel for the language.”

Klodiana Lala, TV crime reporter from Albania, won the price for a clearly written, sensitive and un-sensational treatment of Balkan drug gangs. Her investigation Albanian Crime Story: Hostage to the Cocaine Supply Chain, looks into the gruesome kidnap and murder of a furniture-store owner from Tirana, combining it with a broader picture of the growing cocaine market in Europe.

“Klodiana’s story offers an insight into the operation of Albanian organised crime groups through the tragedy of a family. Her report, based on court documents and interviews, avoids cliches and has a clear style and a logical structure”, said Gyula Csak, a BIRN editor and member of the Fellowship jury.

The jury also singled out Marija Vucic, an investigative reporter for Serbian debunking portal Raskrikavanje, for her story Hate, Lies and Vigilantes: Serbian ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Brigade Plays With Fire. Her detailed expose of a Serbian far-right Facebook group traces the connection between online bigotry and real-world vigilantism, blending traditional on-the-ground reporting with the forensic debunking of conspiracy theories.

“The special value of Marija Vucic’s research lies in the fact that she not only shows the dangers of fake news, but also identifies and confronts those who are significantly involved in the spread of fake news. The political leaders in Serbia should read Vucic’s excellently researched and composed story and draw their conclusions,” said Elena Panagiotidis, editor of Swiss daily, Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

The prize also went to Greek freelance reporter, Iason Athanasiadis, for the story The Accidental Death of an Anarchist. The story looks at the Greek state’s failure to investigate a police assault on an anarchist and the evolving use of the police to tackle public protests.

“Iason Athanasiadis reported with sensitivity and courage on an extraordinary case of police brutality, the tragic death of a young Greek man, and the complex connection between the two. The reader is drawn into a capturing story about powerlessness and violence in the Greek anarchist milieu”, said Kristof Bender, deputy chairman of the European Stability Initiative.

Ten journalists from across the Central and Eastern Europe were awarded fellowships in 2020, and have completed the program under exceptional circumstances that have affected every aspect of their work. Their stories were published throughout 2021, under the topic, Rule of Law.

In addition to the awarded journalists, the 2020 fellows were Bea Bako (Hungary), Elvira Krithari (Greece), Apostolis Fotiadis (Greece), Jakub Janiszewski (Poland) and Augustine Zenakos and Mariniki Alevizopoulou (Greece).

They were all praised by the jury as exceptionally strong group of authors. “This was a phenomenally capable group of journalists who produced excellent work in exceptionally trying circumstances. While four have won prizes for their stories, plaudits are due to each and every one of them for producing stories that will stand the test of time.”

The jury members were Elena Panagiotidis, editor of Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung; Florian Hassel, Central and Eastern Europe correspondent for German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung; Remzi Lani, executive director of the Albanian Media Institute; Kristof Bender, deputy chairman of the European Stability Initiative; Milorad Ivanovic, representative of the FJE alumni network, Adelheid Wolfl, correspondent for Austrian daily Der Standard and Gyla Csak, BIRN editor.

With the conclusion of this year’s programme, the 10 fellows join the FJE alumni network, which consists of more than 150 journalists from 14 CEE countries, who promote the highest professional standards.

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence was launched in 2007 to promote high-quality, cross-border reporting. The programme provides fellows with financial and editorial support, allowing them to travel, report and write their stories and develop their journalistic skills. In 2020, the fellowship programme expanded to include journalists from the Visegrad Four countries of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

The Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence is implemented by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and supported by ERSTE Foundation.

The event was an occasion to meet 51 media outlets that implemented the Engaged Citizens Reporting tool, ECR, which BIRN developed to introduce  engagement journalism in the region.

During the two days, participants heard from Aida Ajanovic, BIRN’s Project Manager, about the importance of engaging communities in reporting.

“Today’s audience is a no longer passive recipient or consumer of news and information but an active participant who is asking questions, sharing insights and evidence,” Ajanovic said.

Several panel discussions, sharing success stories from the region and beyond, further emphasised the importance of engagement journalism.

Chris Walter, Head of Communities at On Our Radar, from the UK, a guest speaker, explained their work in engaging communities in reporting.

He talked about their manifesto, which revolves around the idea that people have the right to tell their own stories in their own words and in their own time and that technology is a tool for listening, not just for broadcasting.

Giving an example, he explained how they had trained a network of community reporters in the UK experiencing homelessness to use their mobile phones to track the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their lives.

Participants at the conference also heard from the director of BIRN Macedonia and a mentor on this project, Ana Petrusheva, about the challenges that media outlets in North Macedonia had to overcome to successfully implement the ECR tool.

The event was an opportunity for BIRN’s grantees to share impactful examples and meet other project grantees and exchange ideas and spread the word about the benefits they experienced from engaging with their communities.

One significant benefit is the additional leverage for impact in front of relevant institutions. BIRN’s grantees gave numerous examples across the region, ranging from influencing the openness of national institutions to solving different communal problems in the cities where they live.

The “Media for All” project was implemented in six countries in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

The project is funded by the UK Government and implemented by a consortium led by British Council together with BIRN, Thomson Foundation, and Intrac.

This year’s Fellows are:

• Ornela Liperi, an editor from Albania working for Monitor Magazine, specialising in data and financial journalism projects
• Gaby Khazalova, a reporter and editor working for Referendum Daily from Brno, Czech Republic, specialising in cross-border collaborations
• Andriana Theochari, a Greek journalist and documentary-maker working for Global Girl Media
• Leart Hoxha, editor, author and TV presenter hosting a current affairs show on Kosovo-based ATV station
• Jelena Jovanovic, senior investigative journalist, specialising in crime and corruption, with the Montenegrin daily Vijesti
• David Ilieski, a journalist working for Investigative Reporting Lab, a partner media of OCCRP from Skopje, North Macedonia
• Julia Alekseeva, a Belarusian journalist currently based in Poland and working for Outriders
• Tadeusz Michrowski, a freelance Polish journalist and features writer
• Andrei Popoviciu, a freelance investigative journalist from Romania, covering human rights, foreign affairs and conflict with international media including the UK Guardian, Al Jazeera, VICE, Lighthouse Reports and France’s Liberation.
• Ilie Gulca, a Moldovan investigative journalist and editor, working for the Center for Investigative Journalism

Jovanovic, from Montenegro, said her place on the Fellowship was a reward for persistence. “I tried for the Fellowship on several previous occasions, and have been determined to win a place since the first rejection,” she said. Hoxha, from Kosovo, said he was keen to follow his topic in depth and at length. “Producing longform journalism is a welcome contrast to the daily grind of TV work,” he said.

The Fellowship helps journalists produce compelling longform features, analysis and investigations. It highlights strong storytelling and rigorous, on-the-ground reporting – qualities traditionally associated with the best magazine journalism.

This year’s fellows will attend a two-day introductory workshop on the craft of longform journalism. The workshop will be delivered by Fellowship editor Neil Arun, and programme manager Dragana Obradovic.

The fellows will receive 3,000-euro grants as well as comprehensive editorial support and mentoring. They will have the opportunity to win further awards for the best three stories, as well as to become a part of BIRN’s alumni group through which they will have access to new opportunities within our growing regional network.

The Fellowship has been running since 2007 in cooperation with the ERSTE Foundation.

If you don’t want to miss our next story, follow us on social media @RDFellowship and @Rept_Democracy and subscribe to our mailing list.

 

 

Jelena Veljkovic, 58, has been in journalism for 30 years. She studied political sciences but she didn’t graduate in it, as journalism came into her life. She started her career in this field in 1992 in Belgrade. The political circumstances, caused by the outbreak of war in former Yugoslavia, motivated her to “try her hand at journalism”, as she says. She has won multiple awards for her stories about corruption.

BIRN discusses with Jelena about “impact journalism” and how it depends on well-informed and aware readers who are open to hear a different reality from what mainstream media offer.

Let’s meet her!

1. How did you start your career in journalism?

I started working in journalism in 1992 and gained my first experience on the morning program of the Belgrade radio and television station, Studio B. I soon joined the newsroom, where I edited and hosted the primetime news program, both on television and radio. At the time of the outbreak of war in the former Yugoslavia, Studio B was, along with Radio B92, one of the few free media that strongly opposed the destruction brought by war and the autocratic regime of Slobodan Milosevic. These difficult political circumstances in the region and in Serbia motivated me to try my hand at journalism.

2. When did you join BIRN Serbia? Which are your favorite subjects and what is the most challenging thing in your job?

  I joined BIRN in February 2015. BIRN seemed to be the place that will allow me to devote myself fully to investigative journalism. And I was right. I mostly investigate cases of corruption and organized crime because, unfortunately, I live in a country that is captured by corruption, where the system is based on corruption, making it a topic that cannot be avoided.

Each story carries a multitude of different challenges, but the biggest one is finding accurate, verified, official information, since the state institutions are completely closed to the independent media.

3. Choose one of your favourite pieces published on BIRN Serbia and tell us why you selected it.

 In the seven years I’ve worked for BIRN I wrote a large number of pieces and it’s hard to pick just one. As parents say: I love all my children equally! Joking aside, I will single out my most recent investigation, which concerns illegal construction in Belgrade.

In recent years, Serbia has turned into a large illegal construction site. Building facilities illegally and then subsequently legalizing them has become one of the most lucrative corruption vehicles for local political figures and related entrepreneurs, associates, friends, and relatives. The most visible consequences are in Belgrade, which is the largest illegal construction site in Serbia. Devastated by corruption, lawlessness, and chaotic urbanization, Belgrade has lost its identity, and Belgraders have lost their city. The beautiful facades of old buildings are ruined, many are perishing, historical heritage is disappearing, as are green spaces, access to the river, clean air, the pavements, parks, peace, legal security, safety… all the things that most immediately affect people’s lives. That is why it is important to write about this problem persistently.

4. You were nominated for the Dejan Anastasijevic award and for the EU award for investigative journalism. Tell us more about these two awards. What makes an investigation worthy of being awarded?

On my own, or with my colleagues with whom I worked on stories, I won four awards that bear the name of our distinguished colleague Dejan Anastasijevic, and one EU award – all for investigative journalism. These are important recognitions in the work of a journalist, who thus receives confirmation that he or she did a good job. However, those awards and the growing competition also paint a picture of the state of the country. This year, more than 70 works were submitted for the Dejan Anastasijevic award, and most of them investigated corruption. This shows that, despite great political pressures, we still have good journalists – but also that something is very wrong with the country.

5. You mostly work on investigative stories that leave an impact on society. How difficult or easy is it for journalists to do impact journalism? Does impact journalism need aware readers and citizens?

That is one of the biggest problems – how to reach the broadest possible audience? How do you reach an audience that doesn’t want to hear your arguments because it perceives them as an attack on the “team” they are rooting for? Serbian society is remarkably polarized on all issues, including the media. Most of the population is not ready to listen to argumentation but approaches issues with deep prejudice. Most do not want to receive information that is different from what they want to hear. This is the result of a banalization of politics that reaches the homes of citizens via biased, strictly controlled pro-government media. In that society, you have “fans” and a minority that is willing to hear, learn and make their minds based on that. Changing this state of society is a long-term process. Without free and investigative media, although they are few in Serbia – just like their readers and viewers – the process of transforming into a society that is ready for dialogue would be impossible.

 

Investigative stories published from January 1 to December 31, 2021, and related to freedom of expression, rule of law, transparency, abuse of power and fundamental rights, corruption and organised crime are welcome to apply.

The award fund in each country in 2022 (for achievements in 2021) is 10,000 EUR. The first prize will be 5,000 EUR, the second 3,000 EUR, and the third will be 2,000 EUR.

Individuals or groups of journalists are eligible to apply in all journalism forms (print, online, radio and TV) published or broadcast in the media in each country in official, minority or international languages.

Articles eligible for submission must appear in print, online, radio and TV media outlets during the 2021 calendar year.

EU Investigative Journalism Awards in the Western Balkans and Turkey aim to celebrate and promote the outstanding achievements of investigative journalists as well as improve the visibility of quality journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey.

The awards are a continuation of the ongoing regional EU Investigative Journalism Award in the Western Balkans and Turkey and part of the ongoing project ‘Strengthening Quality News and Independent Journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey’, funded by the European Union.

The project partners involved all have extensive expertise in the field of media freedom and have been recognised locally and internationally as strong independent media organisations.

The jury for the EU Award comprises media experts, some of them from the project consortia. Others are drawn from the extensive network projects that the consortium members have, such as editors, members of academia and journalists with merits.

New deadline is 13.05.2022 at 23:59.

Please download individual packages to find more information, including application forms and deadlines for the EU Award for Investigative Journalism in your respective country.

For Bosnia and Herzegovina here, here, here 

for Kosovo here, here, here, here, here, here

for Montenegro here, here, here

and for Serbia here, here, here

 

 

Besar Likmeta, 39, studied philosophy but has been working as a journalist for the last 18 years. He started his career in the US but returned to Albania where, together with his colleagues, they founded BIRN Albania. He is editor-in-chief of BIRN’s publication Reporter.al. According to him, journalism is a weapon to give a voice to the voiceless and hold the powerful to account.

Let’s meet him:

Why did you become a journalist? How did you start?

I started my career in journalism as an intern at the Florida Times Union, a newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida. I became a journalist because I wanted to use the written word as a weapon, give a voice to the voiceless and hold powerful people to account. In hindsight this might sound a bit naive and idealistic, but this is the kind of profession where one fools oneself every day to keep going.

When did you join BIRN Albania? What are your favourite subjects to report on and what is the most challenging thing in your job?

I founded BIRN Albania with other colleagues in 2014. I’d previously worked as a correspondent for Balkan Insight from 2007. I mostly report about corruption and white collar and organised crime but they are not my favourite subjects. As an editor, I would probably say the environment is my favourite subject. The most challenging thing about my job is being objective and fair, and this is not always easy in a politically polarized society, where the media is at the crossroads of economic and special interests.

Choose one of your favourite pieces published on Reporter.al and tell us why you selected it.

Two years ago, I wrote a story on Tirana’s vanishing architectural heritage and how early-twentieth-century villas were being demolished to make way for the new flats. In those two years since, many of these architectural gems have been bulldozed. I felt privileged to tell the whirlwind histories of the people who built and owned those houses and their sometimes tragic fate under Albania’s Stalinist regime.

Is it difficult to work on in-depth investigative stories in Albania? What are the main challenges?

Working on in-depth investigative stories is a challenge everywhere, not only in Albania. What makes Albania particular is the level of distrust of the media, which sometimes make the work of reporters and editors in defending the public interest an uphill and lonely battle.

How can we encourage people to read investigative stories? What should journalists and media do?

Well researched, properly structured, tightly edited and thoroughly fact-checked narrative stories might not make great click-bait material but, if it has legs, it can find a way into the communal consciousness and stir public debate. Media should stick to their professional standards and respect their craft. Good journalism and writing is an acquired taste, and the intellectual taste of our readers should be educated by professional and ethical reporting.