The main reason for launching the Journalism Award competition was to motivate Slovak journalists to compare their year’s work and create a respected and representative forum to discuss current achievements, problems and challenges. In the long-term the Journalism Award will further contribute to enhancing journalistic standards in Slovakia. The project aims to publicly acknowledge valuable journalistic work, which has great significance for the development of a democratic society. Our goal is to award those able to report, analyze and evaluate current events engagingly and incisively, and thus able to contribute to society’s development. The Journalism Award opened up a new perspective on the media and also established a platform to stimulate professionalism and high quality work in journalism.
One aspect of the Journalism Award are two special awards. The Award of Slovak Publishers Association and the special Open Society Award dedicated in memory of Karol Ježík, whose work contributed to the media’s raised awareness of the sensitive issues of minorities and the development of investigative journalism in Slovakia.
Journalists are awarded in 13 categories including the best interview, investigative reporting, local reporting for the print and electronic media; commentary, editorial, photography, cartooning for the print media, best article published on a blog. Contributions are submitted by journalists, editors-in-chief, publishers and the public. The contributions are judged by 8 juries consisting of Slovak society and culture personalities as well as Slovak and Czech journalism experts. Each year the project enjoys considerable media attention. Across the whole competition an open discussion with publishers, editors-in-chief and editors takes place. The continued communication with the media allows us to adjust categories, rules and competition conditions to the current needs of Slovak journalism and the media in general.
For more information see www.novinarskacena.sk/en
Project coordinator
Ondrej Starinský