Vienna – ESI in jury of BIRN Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence
16 May 2025
Zuza Nazaruk, Ioana Louloudi & Lina Kapetaniou and Zuzana Vladsata. Photo: BIRN
On 16 May 2025 the jury of the BIRN Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, of which ESI's Kristof Bender is a member, awarded the prizes for the 2023 cohort of the fellowship.
The first prize went to Polish journalist Zuza Nazaruk for a story on how the Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is being transformed into a militarized zone, with thousands of migrants and soldiers clashing amid its rich biodiversity and ecological importance.
Ioana Louloudi and Lina Kapetaniou from Greece won the second prize. Their story exposed how the Greek state persistently denies liability and delays justice for victims of police brutality, accidents, and disasters, forcing citizens into prolonged legal battles.
The award for the third place went to Zuzana Vlasata for her investigation of how political corruption and state capture have enabled the chemical factory linked to then-Prime Minister Andrei Babis to avoid accountability for the largest environmental disaster in the post-communist Czech Republic.
In this programme every year ten journalists from Eastern and Southeastern Europe are chosen and awarded a fellowship to spend months pursuing in-depth stories and investigations, working closely with Neil Arun, a highly experienced editor. The stories of all fellows will be soon available at the site of the fellowship programme, which is supported by Erste Foundation.