Press Prizes for Russia and Eastern Europe

The Norwegian Fritt Ord Foundation and the German ZEIT Foundation are cooperatively announcing a competition for press prizes to journalists and media in Russia and Eastern Europe. The press prizes aim to support the independent role of journalists, despite reprisals and financial difficulties, to encourage them not to be intimidated by censorship and to resist self-censorship.

The prizes for newspapers are for amounts of up to EUR40,000, and to journalists, EUR10,000. The prize laureates themselves decide how the money will be spent, as long as it benefits the individual newspaper or journalist.

The press prizes are earmarked for newspapers, internet media, and journalists from Russia, Belarus, the Ukraine, Georgia, and South Caucasus. The foundations would like to express their support for newspapers and journalists in larger cities as well as for regional media aimed at strengthening the press in rural areas.

The newspapers are asked to demonstrate broad editorial initiatives in at least three areas, one of which should be foreign policy. They should be able to demonstrate balanced coverage of political, cultural, economic, and social affairs. They must show a commitment to democracy, international understanding, and freedom of expression. The newspapers must have been published for at least one year and be able to demonstrate a circulation of at least 5,000 copies at the time the nominations are submitted.