The European Press Prize Shortlist 2025

The Shortlist for the 2025 European Press Prize has been announced at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy!

25 stories have been included in this year’s Shortlist across five categories: 

• Distinguished Reporting Award
• Innovation Award
• Investigative Reporting Award
• Public Discourse Award
• Migration Journalism Award.

As ever, the Shortlist represents Europe’s best journalism and covers a diverse range of topics. This year’s Shortlist features stories on the Israeli occupation of parts of the Gaza Strip, forced child labour in Madagascan mica mines, motherhood at a time of global crisis, and much more.

As well as showcasing broad thematic diversity, this year’s Shortlist boasts investigations at the forefront of journalistic innovation and ingenuity, with contributors utilising techniques ranging from satellite imagery and machine learning algorithms to purpose-built tools to analyse massive datasets.

The full Shortlist is available here.

From 810 submissions to just 25 projects

Each year, the European Press Prize opens to submissions with the aim of supporting and celebrating the highest quality journalism Europe has to offer. The 2025 application period was no different with 810 submissions received from 44 countries. Of those submissions, 400 came from women journalists, 380 from men, and 9 from non-binary applicants. The remaining 21 did not wish to disclose that information. The Prize’s Preparatory Committee then narrowed down the submissions to 25 stories for the 2025 Shortlist after a series of meetings and discussions. 

A tough year for independent journalism

For the third year running, our Shortlist was announced at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. While the announcement represented a celebration of journalism, elsewhere in Perugia, speakers reminded festival goers of the dire circumstances facing many media workers around the world. This point was echoed by Cristian Lupșa, Chair of our Preparatory Committee. Lupșa said:

“This was a difficult year for judging, with many journalists under threat in increasingly authoritarian regimes across the world, and more than 100 killed in Gaza since the start of the war. These challenges were always present in our minds as the Preparatory Committee made its choices.” 

Taking into account the obstacles and threats many of the applicants would have overcome in order to tell their stories, the Preparatory Committee used its expertise to narrow down the hundreds of submissions to our 2025 Shortlist. 

“The Committee is an incredible group of colleagues and peers from across Europe—diverse, passionate, and deeply committed to identifying the most exemplary and impactful journalism. We’ve read hundreds of stories, had many conversations and debates, and we believe the finalists we chose reflect the urgency and importance of journalism today—standing for truth, justice, and a better world”, said Lupșa.

The projects that make up the 2025 Shortlist achieved major impact in this pursuit of a better world, ranging from key political figures citing projects in calls for legal reforms to global awareness raising and shining a light on the truth in countries where authoritarian regimes have all but silenced opposition voices. 

What next?

Following the announcement, our 2025 Shortlist will be handed off to our Panel of Judges. The Panel will make the final selection of Winners and Runners-up – and choose the recipient of this year’s Special Award. Each award is worth €10,000, to be spent wherever possible on a personal project that may, in turn, enrich the practice of journalism.

This year’s Winners and Runners-up will be announced at our Award Ceremony in Bari, Italy, on 28 May.