Balkan Fellowship Shortlisted for European Press Prize

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The editor of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, Neil Arun, has been shortlisted for the European Press Prize 2013.

The nomination, in the category of Investigative Reporting, was made for stories produced by the Fellowship, an annual bursary for analytical and investigative journalism. The stories covered themes ranging from corruption to the legacy of conflict and communism.

Ten journalists are selected for the Fellowship every year to receive funding and professional guidance to help them report on topics that are central to the region and to the European Union. Applications for the 2014 round of the Fellowship are currently being sought.

The programme is managed by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, with the support of ERSTE Stiftung and the Open Society Foundations.

Arun was also shortlisted for the 2012 edition of the European Press Prize. Having completed two years with the Fellowship, he is now leaving the programme to pursue new opportunities.

He will remain involved with the Fellowship as a member of its selection committee, and with BIRN as a special projects editor.

“The credit for this nomination must be shared,” he says. “This is recognition for those who have reported for the Fellowship, and for those whose hard work and generosity have supported it.”

The awards were created by the representatives of seven European media foundations in order to reward excellence in journalism across 47 European countries.

Each award carries a prize of 10,000 euros, to be spent on a project that may enrich the practice of journalism.

The winners will be decided by a panel of judges, chaired by Sir Harold Evans. The prize giving ceremony takes place in London on March 17, 2014.