Roberta Nikšić

Roberta Nikšić was selected for the 2022 European Press Prize shortlist for ‘Life with migrants.’

Roberta Nikšić (Mrkonjić Grad, 1982), a 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 the socio-political engagement of women theologians in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia in Religion & Geselschaft in Ost und West, and in Journal of the European Society of Women in Theological Research.  She also published two books of poetry.

During her collaboration for Svjetlo Riječi, a magazine run by Bosnian Franciscans, she has learned from the best, because the magazine brought together some of the most prominent intellectuals, theologians, journalists, writers, historians. That scenario changed in 2013., after the dismissal of the editor-in-chief which also resulted in a change in editorial policy. Many collaborators refused to write for Svjetlo Riječi, and so did she. With time, that formerly open-minded and critical magazine for religion, society and culture became a one-sided monthly magazine that keeps silent about anomalies in Bosnian societies and religious communities, such as, among other things, the nationalization of religion and consecration of the national, and the use of religion to ensure the rise of the political power of individuals and their political parties.

By launching polisa.ba in 2020., again by a group of Bosnian Franciscans, a website that nurtures openness, care and commitment to marginal voices that cannot be seen or heard in the midst of widespread media noise, on the platform where contributors can freely reflect on the positive aspects of religion and critically reflect on anomalies in Bosnian society, she found her home to write.

Anna Myroniuk

Anna Myroniuk was selected as runner-up for the 2022 European Press Prize Investigative Reporting Award with ‘Huge quantities of Chinese cigarettes smuggled into Ukraine.’

Anna Myroniuk is a Ukrainian journalist based in Kyiv. She is a co-founder of the Kyiv Independent, an English-language media outlet reporting on Ukraine. She has worked as a journalist for around 10 years both in television and print. Anna has run investigative projects on human rights, healthcare and illicit trade. She investigated presidents and oligarchs. She reported from the Donbas front line during the hottest phase of the war there in 2014-2017, as well as from the COVID-19 front lines, such as an intensive care unit in the epicentre of the surge of coronavirus infections in Ukraine in 2021. She has written for Coda Story, OCCRP and Washington Post. Anna holds a Master in Investigative Journalism from the City University of London, is a Chevening Scholar, and is a finalist for the 2020 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award.