The programme received more than 150 applications and many were of a very high standard, making the final choice extremely difficult.
Members of the programme’s independent selection committee evaluate applications based on the relevance, feasibility and originality of the proposals, as well as the applicants’ professional qualifications, motivation and journalistic approach. The committee is comprised of seven senior media figures from the Balkans and around Europe.
BIRN and its partners in the fellowship programme thank all the applicants and encourage those who were not successful to consider applying again next year.
Here are the fellows for 2015, listed alphabetically by surname:
Fotini Barka (Greece)
Lindita Cela (Albania)
Vladimir Karaj (Albania)
Konstantinos Koukoumakas (Greece)
Jasmina Lazic (Serbia)
Jeton Mehmeti (Kosovo)
Mariya Petkova (Bulgaria)
Damir Pilic (Croatia)
Laura Stefanut (Romania)
Zornitsa Stoilova (Bulgaria)
The Fellows’ topics will be published in due course. They include the effects of the war in Syria, religious tension, human trafficking, education, culture and labour conditions.
The word cloud above gives a flavour of the topics covered in previous years, drawing on the headlines and introductions of Fellowship stories.