Brussels, 12 October 2023
The Commission has announced the three winners of the 2023 Megalizzi – Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists: Antonina Lozanova from Bulgaria, Sara Fačko from Croatia, and Olena Martyniuk from Ukraine. The Commission awarded the prize to Antonina, Sara and Olena for their strong attachment to the EU and its values, dedication to quality journalism, and all-encompassing journalistic talent.
The Megalizzi – Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists was launched in 2019 and honours the memory of Antonio Megalizzi and Bartek Piotr Orent-Niedzielski, two young European journalists with a strong attachment to EU values, who tragically lost their lives after a terrorist attack in Strasbourg in 2018. 11 young European journalists have since won the prize.
During yesterday’s awards ceremony, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, said:
“The three winners of the Megalizzi-Niedzielski prize are talented journalists with great potential, who strongly support the values of the EU. Our democracies depend on free, independent press, so we must continue to support and stand by journalists and media organisations in their struggle to deliver top-quality information to Europeans. That is why we have launched another call for media organisations – we are practicing what we preach and putting our money where our mouth is!”
The launch of this new call for proposals was announced by Commissioner Ferreira during the awards ceremony to support communication activities designed to raise awareness about Cohesion Policy and its positive impact on EU citizens’ lives. This 7th call has an overall budget of €7 million. Until now, the Commission has granted €35 million in financing to more than 150 media organisations, whose communication activities have reached millions of people through traditional press, TV and radio, events, and online platforms. The deadline for applications is 17:00 CEST, 9 January 2024. Examples of communication actions of previous beneficiaries can be found on this webpage.
Source – EU Commission