Asli Erdoğan and Deniz Yücel have today been jointly awarded with Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media by the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig.

Deniz Yücel and Asli Erdoğan will be awarded the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig’s “Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media” 2017

by Jane Whyatt

An app deisgned by the Turkish-British Alp Toker has been honoured with a Freedom of Expression prize. It aims to beat back censorship and the online blocking of critical journalists in Turkey.

The European Press Prize will welcome entries for the 2017 edition from the 1st of November until the 16th of December.

by Mads Haahr – An Essay
They wanted the Young European Federalists Denmark to write about freedom of the press. Yet they did not give them overall freedom to describe freedom of the press. They were therefore confined to a mere one thousand words in their description. So the eternally cantankerous youth pondered how you could ask for a description of freedom of the press and at th … read more

by Jane Whyatt
Tracing the transnational journey of a gram of heroin from the field where the poppy grows to the end-user in an European capital is a difficult and dangerous task. It makes a great story. And it shows the power of collaborative journalism – even on a tiny budget.

by Michelle Trimborn
This year’s “Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media” is awarded to Can Dündar and Erdem Gül. The award is sponsored by the Sparkasse Leipzig Media Foundation, ECPMF’s lead partner. The ECPMF has supported both laureates for months in their fight for media freedom in Turkey.

by Jane Whyatt in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
A Kurdish comedian has helped Sweden’s SVT to win the Prix CIRCOM 2016 - Europe’s top prize for television journalism – with ‘Absolut Svensk’.

The Central European Initiative (CEI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), in special partnership with the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), have opened the Call for Applications 2016 of the CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism. The Call is divided into two categories:

by SEEMO
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) calls for nominations for the 2016 Dr Erhard Busek-SEEMO Award for Better Understanding in South, Eastern and Central Europe. Eligible to be nominated are journalists, editors, media executives, media experts, writers or journalism trainers in South, East and Central Europe who have contributed to promoting better understanding in the region and have worked towards ending minority-related problems, ethn … read more

Prize for photographer who was beaten up by Hungarian police – ECPMF investigates

by Balazs Nagy Navarro, leader of the ECPMF fact finding mission in Hungary
The black and white image of a small baby being passed by refugees under a razor-wire fence on the Hungary-Serbia border at Röszke won the prestigious World Press Photo award for 2015 as the Photo of 2015.

by Philllip Filipovski
The New Year brings a long list of new opportunities to win fame and fortune through journalism, investigations, or even social media. Many of the top prizes have deadlines in January and February. Here are some highlights, and there are many more at the website of our partner organisation www.journalismfund.eu

Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi is one of the winners of the 2014 Prize for Freedom and Future of the Media, awarded by the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig. Panahi is not allowed to give interviews, make films, write screenplays or leave the country since he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for propaganda against the government.

So Jafar Panahi’s representative in Germany Nooshafarin Doostri-Lübbe answers ECPMF’s questions.

… read more

The award-winning American documentary film-maker Laura Poitras has been voted the winner of this year’s Marion Donhoff prize, decided by the readers of Die Zeit, Germany’s liberal weekly newspaper.

This latest award from German readers is given annually in memory of Countess Donhoff, one of the founders of Die Zeit. It not a prize for journalism, but for increasing international understanding and reconciliation.

Poitras, who lived until recently in Berlin, film … read more

Leipzig honours independent filmmaker from Iran and investigative journalist from Turkey

Two courageous men from countries where media freedom is severely restricted – Iran and Turkey - are honoured with this year’s Prize for the Freedom and future of the Media, awarded by the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig.

Details will be announced on 8^th October during the first annual European Media Freedom Conference held by the European Centre for Pr … read more