The European Press Prize partners up with the International Journalism Festival of Perugia
The European Press Prize is delighted to announce the start of a collaboration with the IJF – International Journalism Festival of Perugia – that will bring us to the Italian Festival, where the names of the 2023 Shortlist will be released.
In April 2023 we will go back to Perugia for the IJF – International Journalism Festival, the event that every year brings together, in the Italian city of Perugia, journalists, activists, and experts in the field of media from all over the world. However, this edition will bring a novelty: we will officially collaborate with the Festival.
This collaboration will entail a more official presence of the Prize in the programme of the Festival, and a closer contact with all the guests present in Perugia. Some of the Prize Laureates and Nominees will take part in the many panels organised by the IJF, to give their contribution to the discourse on journalism and its many facets.
Our 2023 Shortlist announcement
Moreover, we will release the 2023 Shortlist live from the IJF, officially opening the path towards the Award Ceremony, this year held in Tbilisi (Georgia) at the ZEG Tbilisi Storytelling Festival.
The Nominees of our five categories (Investigative Reporting, Distinguished Reporting, Public Discourse, Innovation, and the new category called Migration Journalism) will be announced during a dedicated event, open to local and international media.
“I think this was bound to happen, and it is most certainly something we have always been hoping for. The IJF is the most renowned festival dedicated to international journalism, and it is a great opportunity for us to be an integral part of it. Our community of journalists will profit from this, and the fact that our Shortlist will be released in Perugia makes this collaboration even more special, and meaningful”, said Emanuele Del Rosso, our Head of Communications.
Arianna Ciccone and Christopher Potter, International Journalism Festival co-founders, explained: “We’re delighted to partner with the European Press Prize. Whether to add the most prestigious European journalism awards to the festival programme was not a difficult decision for us to make. Many Prize Laureates have been speakers at previous festivals so hosting the Shortlist announcement seems a natural fit. We are confident that future Prize Nominees and Laureates will not only enrich the festival community but will also enjoy networking with and even possibly being inspired by the hundreds of journalists, human rights activists and creators from outside Europe who come to the festival every year. We look forward to working together with the European Press Prize in the coming years.”
The Black Sea / Turkey: The new phase of a multi-year investigative journalism project
In every corner of the continent, our Laureates launch projects that enrich the practice of journalism. We present one of them: The Black Sea – Turkey, by Laureates Zeynep Şentek and Craig Shaw.
The Black Sea is known for publishing in-depth reporting and investigative features on the Black Sea region. Their new initiative, launched in Amsterdam in September, focuses on Turkey, covering financial, political, and security-related interactions with its neighbours, the EU, and the wider world.
As part of a multi-year plan to strengthen investigative journalism in Turkey and the Black Sea, the team is building a cross-border newsroom of talented reporters, filmmakers, and photographers.
What started as a travel blog project a decade ago later evolved into an independent, investigative platform that connects freelance journalists covering Eastern Europe. The Black Sea’s journalism has been nominated for the European Press Prize multiple times.
In 2014, the Black Sea was up for our Innovation Award, and in 2016 and 2018, it made it to the Investigative Reporting Award shortlist with “Mapping the Weapons of Terror” and “The Malta Files,” two cross-border investigative journalism projects that were completed in collaboration with the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) network, which The Black Sea co-founded.
Non-partisan investigative journalism for Turkey
In its ten-year history of cross-border and public-interest journalism, Black Sea journalists investigated corruption in Turkish politics, reported on human rights violations, and exposed environmental abuses. These reports were cited in a US Senate Intelligence report, and in Turkey’s Parliament.
“In all the ways bad journalism hurts the country, good journalism helps it. And at the core of the best journalism is the righting of wrongs and exposing injustice, corruption, and lies. This is the creed of quality investigative reporting. Every country deserves it. Turkey is no exception.”
Earlier this year, our Laureates, Zeynep Şentek and Craig Shaw, together with our former head of partnerships, Aylin Özalp, started envisioning the future of The Black Sea. In September, they registered as a non-profit organisation in The Netherlands. They are joined by our PrepCom member Şebnem Arsu, a veteran Turkish journalist, and Anna Nemstova, an award-winning journalist with decades of experience, both board members of The Black Sea Foundation.
The Black Sea team: Aylin Ozalp (co-director), Zeynep Sentek (board member), Craig Shaw (co-director), Sebnem Arsu and Anna Nemstova (board members)
The newsroom’s goal is to demonstrate that exciting, narrative-led investigative journalism has a place and an audience in Turkish society and abroad. By investing in high-impact reporting, cross-border collaborations, and media partnerships, The Black Sea will fulfil the pressing need for non-partisan and challenging journalism in Turkey. It is the first phase of a plan to build toward a regional initiative.
Help the project
The Black Sea is now seeking funding to support its work, set to begin in the new year.
Board chair Zeynep Şentek: “In all the ways bad journalism hurts the country, good journalism helps it. And at the core of the best journalism is the righting of wrongs and exposing injustice, corruption, and lies. This is the creed of quality investigative reporting. Every country deserves it. Turkey is no exception.”