The European Press Foundation has announced details of the European Press Prize 2012, a new prize aimed at promoting quality journalism in Europe. There are awards in four categories, each of € 10,000:
- The Editor Award
- The Commentator Award
- The Reporting Award
- The Innovation Award
Entries should have been published in the 12 months between October 1, 2011 and October 26, 2012 and full details are available on www.europeanpressprize.com
The winners – judged by a distinguished panel from different areas of Europe and under the chairmanship of Sir Harold Evans, editor-at-large of Thomson Reuters and former editor of London’s Sunday Times – will be announced in January and have their awards presented at a congress of Europe’s media foundations in the De Balie Debating Centre, Amsterdam, on 26 February, 2013.
Sir Harold Evans will be joined on the judging panel by Jørgen Ejbøl, chairman of JP/Politiken Newspapers and former editor of Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen, Sylvie Kauffmann, editorial director of Le Monde in Paris and Yevgenia Albats, editor of New Times in Moscow and Paolo Flores d’Arcais, one of the most influential philosophers and writers in Italy.
Sir Harold Evans says: “The great good that journalism can achieve has been overcast by the scandals of phone hacking, blagging, bribery, and the corruption endemic in too cosy a relationship between press and politicians. It is exhilarating that leading foundations are co-operating to recognize excellence in the press and doing it for the whole of Europe at a time when the European ideal is under siege.”