Ilir Gashi

Ilir Gashi was selected for the 2023 Shortlist with The alternative Balkan postal system.

Ilir Gashi is a journalist, activist, and media development expert based in Belgrade, Serbia. He started working in journalism at the age of 14, initially as a reviewer of computer games. He quit journalism writing in 2002 to initiate the massive human rights/legal literacy program “U pravu si!” [You are right / You have the right] used by hundreds of thousands of school students and citizens in Serbia over the following decade. 

Between 2014 and 2017, Ilir led the Slavko Curuvija Foundation, an organization working in media freedom, sustainability of local media and safety of journalists in Serbia. There he created multiple initiatives, including “Cenzolovka”, a popular portal reporting on all issues relating to freedom of media, and a School of Digital Journalism for young local media journalists. In 2017 he co-initiated the Group for Freedom of Media, gathering hundreds of NGOs, independent media, journalists, activists and citizens to jointly fight the government’s efforts to control the media in Serbia.

Currently, Ilir works with journalists, local media outlets and community-based NGOs all across the Balkans, to help them tell their stories more powerfully. His frequent trips between Belgrade and Pristina in the past couple of years led him to discoveries of people and stories that inspired him to start writing again.

Roberta Nikšić

Roberta Nikšić was selected for the 2023 Shortlist with Manana.

Roberta Nikšić (Mrkonjić Grad, 1982), theologian, graduated in Franciscan Theology in Sarajevo, and completed Women’s Studies in Zagreb. She has published reviews in Bosna Franciscana, and Motrišta, short stories, reviews, columns and reportages in Svjetlo Riječi, articles on socio-political engagement of women theologians in journals of theological provenance.

She also published two books of poetry. Last year she was European Press Prize nominee in category Public Discourse for the text “Life with migrants”. Nowadays, beside her journalist work she is also Advocacy Officer in Jesuit Refugee Service Bosnia and Herzegovina (JRS BiH).