The best European journalism of the year: The European Press Prize announces its shortlist

The European Press Prize announced, live from the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, the finalists of its 2022 edition. This year’s pool of 20 shortlisted works counts articles and projects published in as many as 24 different countries, ranging from Portugal to Turkey. It is also one of the youngest finalists groups in the history of the Prize, with journalists born in 1994 and 1997.

This year’s edition of the European Press Prize received almost 900 submissions from 43 out of the 47 countries member of the Council of Europe and Belarus. This is one of the widest submission pools the Prize has ever recorded. From such a pool, the Preparatory Committee has selected 20 articles and projects, divided into the four categories of Distinguished Reporting, Investigative Reporting, Innovation, and Public Discourse (each award is worth 10,000 €).

The Prize finalists tackle topics that are crucial for Europe. For example, Back Channel Cooperation: How Frontex Helps Haul Migrants Back to Libyan Torture Camps investigates the response of the European policies to migrations; Woman’s body, man’s medicine is an interactive investigation into the androcentric (man-focused) gender bias that permeates research and medicine; The Age of the Wolf is an inquiry into the roots of the relationship between the human and wolves; and Belarus: escaping Lukashenko’s regime at any cost exposes the harsh reality of people trying to escape Lukashenko’s regime.

The new Public Discourse Award

The Public Discourse Award–launched this year to replace the Opinion Award–is dedicated to those journalists that not only report on what is happening but dare to reflect on it.

This new category awards work that is urgent even long after its publication, that can instigate public debate and discourse, and has value for all people reading it.

The finalists of this category are pieces such as Memory in the age of impunity, which explores the reasons why certain stories fail to capture and retain our attention, examining the disappearance of the so-called grand narratives.

Announced in Perugia, during the International Journalism Festival

This year’s shortlist was announced during the International Journalism Festival in Perugia (Italy), one of the biggest events dedicated to free press, journalism, and international media.

Thomas van Neerbos, Director of the European Press Prize, commented: “Ten years in existence, the projects and pieces on our shortlist reflect our aim to truly represent all European quality journalism. Presenting our shortlist during IJF, in a room full of former and future nominees, shows us being part of this community. A community of journalists that, in all its diversity and innovation, harnesses the power – very much alive – to help society move forward.”

The Panel of Judges

The 2022 Panel of Judges, which will select the winners of each category, is composed of former editor-in-chief of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger (chair), Turkish journalist, columnist and documentarian Can Dündar, deputy editor-in-chief at Süddeutsche Zeitung Alexandra Föderl-Schmid, deputy director at eldiario.es Juan Luis Sánchez, Le Monde editorial director Sylvie Kauffmann, and freelance journalist and De Volkskrant columnist Sheila Sitalsing.

THE PRIZE 2022 SHORTLIST (read all the pieces here)

The Distinguished Reporting Award

The first hotspot by Lukas Eberle, Maik Grossekathoefer, published by Der Spiegel Magazine (Germany)

What Guantánamo made of them by Bastian Berbner, John Goetz, published by DIE ZEIT (Germany)

Loosening the stake by İrfan Aktan, published by Express (Turkey)

The age of the wolf by Guillermo López Linares, Carlos Serrano, Fede Serra, published by Salvaje magazine (Spain)

One in every five Polish vets has considered suicide: “I broke down on December 23rd when I had to put down nine animals in one day.” by Anna Kiedrzynek, published in ‘Duży Format’ by Gazeta Wyborcza  (Poland)

The Innovation Award

Inside elephants territory: How Sri Lankans are trying to mitigate the world’s deadliest human-elephant conflict by Lola García-Ajofrín, Marcin Suder, Sisira Sampath, Tina Xu, Piotr Kliks, Kumara Ariyadasa, published by Outriders (Poland)

This is us by Lisa Caspari, Philipp Daum, Philip Faigle, Ileana Grabitz, Mark Heywinkel, Marlene Knobloch, Julia Kopatzki, Lucie Liu, Annabelle Seubert, Frida Thurm, Vanessa Vu, Moritz Klack, Julius Tröger, Dr. Andreas Loos, Sascha Venohr, Christoph Rauscher, Thilo Kasper, Axel Rudolph, Michael Pfister, Sebastian Berger, Simon Koy, Kalpesh Lathigra, Thomas Pirot, Julia Sellmann, Marzena Skubatz, Thomas Victor, Lucas Wahl, Mona Wetzel, published by ZEIT ONLINE (Germany)

Cities for rent: Investigating corporate landlords across Europe by Jose Miguel Calatayud, Adriana Homolova, Hendrik Lehmann, David Meidinger, Benedikt Brandhofer, Nikolas Zöller and other team members: Alexandra Siebenhofer, Steven Vanden Bussche, Gaby Khazalová, Bo Elkjær, Alexander Abdelilah, Hendrik Lehmann, Sotiris Sideris, Lois Kapila, Alice Facchini, Peter Hendriks, Steinar Rostad Breivik, Micael Pereira, Peter Sabo , Manuel Gabarre, Christian Zeier, Catherine McShane, Nikolas Leontopoulos, Alexia Barakou, Moritz Wienert, Benedikt Hebeisen, Christoph Trautvetter, Jakub Nakládal, Mathieu Périsse, Anna Thewalt, Lorenzo Bagnoli, Sara Pinho, published by Arena for Journalism in Europe (Europe), ORF (Austria), Apache (Belgium), Deník Referendum (Czech Republic), Mediapart (France), Der Tagesspiegel (Germany), AthensLive (Greece), Reporters United (Greece), Dublin Inquirer (Ireland), IrpiMedia (Italy), E24 (Norway), Expresso (Portugal), elDiario.es (Spain), Reflekt (Switzerland), Republik (Switzerland), and other publication partners: Ctxt.es (Spain), Follow The Money (The Netherlands)

Woman’s body, man’s medicine by Lara Bonilla, Ricard Marfà, Idoia Longan, published by Diari ARA (Catalonia, Spain)

Sneakerjagd (Sneaker Hunt) by Melanie Böff, Manuel Daubenberger, Benedikt Dietsch, Fabian Dinklage, Johannes Edelhoff, Lorenz Jeric, Anne Kunze, Moritz Klack, Willem Konrad, Andrzej Król, Karsten Polke-Majewski, Felix Rohrbeck, Christian Salewski, Dietmar Schiffermüller, Christian Sothmann, Sascha Venohr, Jürgen Webermann, Simon Wörpel published by Flip, DIE ZEIT (Germany), and NDR

The Investigative Reporting Award

Backchannel cooperation: How Frontex helps haul migrants back to Libyan torture camps by Sara Creta, Bashar Deeb, Klaas van Dijken, Emmanuel Freudenthal, Steffen Lüdke, Maximilian Popp, Shafagh Laghai, Lara Straatmann, Tomas Statius, published by Der Spiegel (Germany), ARD (Germany), Monitor (France), Libération (France), Lighthouse Reports (the Netherlands)

Huge quantities of Chinese cigarettes smuggled into Ukraine by Anna Myroniuk, published by Kyiv Post, OCCRP (Ukraine)

The hidden honour girls by Marja Grill, Fanny Renman, Lotta Sima, Jenny Küttim, Rebecka Haglund, Martin von Krogh, published by SVT.se, SVT Aktuellt, SVT Rapport (Sweden)

The investigation is closed by Paavo Teittinen, published by Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)

Who will help the Gurkhas now? Thousands of Nepalese came to Afghanistan to work for Westerners – and were forgotten there by Andreas Babst, published by Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland)

The Public Discourse Award

The world turned Its back on Afghans a long time ago by Nidžara Ahmetašević, published by Kosovo2.0 (Kosovo)

An ode to Marmara by Kaya Genç, published by Eurozine

Life with migrants: On Easter, borders, and a cosy ‘isolator’ in Bosanci by Roberta Nikšić, published by polis.ba (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Fratellanza Umana (Croatia), JRS Bih (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Memory in the age of impunity by Peter Pomerantsev, published by Coda Story (Georgia)

Belarus: escaping Lukashenko’s regime at any cost by Denis Vejas, published by EREB (France), NARA (Lithuania)

Contact Emanuele Del Rosso (emanuele[at]europeanpressprize.com for information or republication requests).

The 20 behind the 20: our PrepCom’s take on journalism

Every year, in spring, the European Press Prize presents its shortlist: twenty projects, five per Prize’s category, that stand out among the hundreds of entries that were submitted. But behind the 20 professionals that will compose our shortlist, there are twenty others that are responsible for the selection of the submissions: we are talking about our Preparatory Committee.

Coming from different European countries and with different backgrounds (being journalists or communications experts, or activists) our PrepCom members bring together a variety of experiences, perspectives, and perceptions about journalism.

And while this year’s shortlist is being assembled, we asked them a simple, and yet intricate question. We hope their answers will be useful to spark a debate on what journalism is and that, through their words, young journalists can get inspired and understand better their profession.

A formula for excellent journalism

As they read and re-read hundreds of projects, there could be something our PrepCom members looked for, an ideal of excellence that they try to find in what they are reading. Therefore, we asked them: Is there a formula for excellent journalism? And if yes, what is it?

Of course, we know there is no ready-made way of producing an excellent piece, as PrepCom member Roman Anin underlined, arguing: “Otherwise, every story we write would become an ‘excellent journalistic piece’.” However, there might be some “ingredients” that, if used and combined well, can help craft a solid journalistic item.

Sérgio B. Gomes: “Writing down a “recipe” for a good piece of journalism is not easy, but it’s worth trying to identify some condiments to get there. For example, in reporting, the noblest and most difficult genre of journalism, it is necessary to feel that we are walking in the footsteps left by the reporter; we need to feel all our senses waking up — as if we were smelling the steam of a freshly cooked dish.”

Beata Balogová: “It is not enough to tell a good story. It must be inhabited by people who have faces and names. When they speak, the reader must instantly understand their words and see why it is important to listen to them. Their stories must grow larger than themselves, their families or the city they live in. Even strangers must feel that it concerns them. Yet everything must be authentic and true.”

The importance of talking about people and with people is an aspect that a lot of PrepCom members emphasize.

Katrin Kuntz: “When writing a feature story, take time for the people you meet, listen to them, relisten to them. Question your first thoughts and assumptions. Take the people around you seriously, no matter how different their world may be from yours. Show respect by knowing all necessary facts well. But then be genuinely interested in what you see and hear, and totally present. Make a connection if possible. Have trust in the story. Show patience and kindness. With your surroundings, with yourself, and your writing.”

Konstanty Gebert: “In reporting, you work with feet and tongue and hands. The hands will write the story down – but first your feet need to carry you everywhere you have to be to get the story out,” adding “People carry stories. If only you have the curiosity to ask and the patience to listen. Just don’t think of people as wrappers that contain the story. People are the story. And once you’ve walked enough, talked enough, and seen enough, you can try to go back, distill and crystalize.”

Oleg Khomenok: “An excellent journalistic piece is a cocktail of proven and verified facts, mixed with real people’s stories and experts’ comments and covering socially important problems or conflicts. It is enriched with good photos and graphics that make readers feel as if they were in the place the reporter is describing. This mixture attracts the readers’ attention from the beginning until the end of the story.”

Denis Džidić: “There are many different ways to make an amazing journalistic piece but, for me, a good recipe would be one taking special care with the opening paragraph, making sure it focuses on an individual, on someone the reader will relate to or be interested in; with the nut graph, which will explain to the reader why the topic of the article is important; and with the ending, which should leave your readers feeling they understand more about something than they did previously. But most importantly, it is important to write about something you care about and make sure the reader understands this topic makes a difference in the world.”

Mathias Friis: “An excellent journalistic piece is a story you cannot wait to share with colleagues, family, and friends. Often combining strong human-interest elements with in-depth reporting, the piece puts individual stories into a larger context and gives us a better understanding of the world. By shedding light on important questions or exposing wrongdoing in society, it promotes reflection, public discussion, and informed decision-making.”

Jacopo Ottaviani: “I believe an excellent journalistic piece combines the power of data analysis and data visualization with the human aspect of the story. This piece will explain a phenomenon starting locally, from a human level, and then use data to explain its magnitude on a macro level. The journalist will serve as a mediator between data and humanity and help the audience untangle the complexity of our societies.”

Lidy Nicolasen: “Apart from good and accessible language, there must be an actual motivation. But the most important ingredients of all are independent, reliable, and traceable sources and a transparent and intelligent point of view.”

Lucila Rodríguez-Alarcón: “Journalism is the art of accurate storytelling.”