The press prizes are being awarded to six independent media outlets and journalists in eastern and central Europe in recognition of their valiant investigative journalism under exceedingly difficult circumstances. The authoritarian regimes in the region are expanding their reach, and two of this year’s prize laureates have recently been sentenced to several years in prison as a result of their journalistic endeavours. Several of the extraordinary documentary films made as shorts and in feature format by this year’s prize laureates have reached wide audiences.

This year’s prize laureates are:
The media platform Gwara Media from Ukraine
Journalist and media founder Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia
The investigative online-media outlet Direkt36 from Hungary
Photographer and photojournalist Alexandra Astakhova from Russia
The media channel Belarusian Investigative Center from Belarus
Journalist Nargiz Absalamova from Azerbaijan

”For Ukrainian journalists, war means reporting under conditions of survival. We not only cover the frontline but also risks to democracy itself – disinformation, corruption, and shrinking civil society. For regional media like Gwara, this award is especially vital, as we bring global attention to local realities that would otherwise remain invisible. The Free Media Award tells us and our audience that even in a brutal war, free journalism is possible and important," comments Serhii Prokopenko, editor-in-chief of Gwara Media.

The Free Media Conference will be held at Patriotischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg on Wednesday, 5 November, and the awards ceremony will be arranged at the Hamburg City Hall on Thursday, 6 November. Both events will be organised in conjunction with ‘Freedom of the Press Week’ in Hamburg from 2 to 8 November 2025. The conference and the awards ceremony are organised in Oslo and Hamburg in alternate years.

The recipients of the Free Media Awards for 2025 – background and the jury’s grounds for the awards:

Gwara Media (Ukraine)
Kharkiv-based Gwara Media is receiving a Free Media Award for its fact-based war reporting from the frontlines in Ukraine. This media platform discloses to the world how Russian war crimes are committed in Kharkiv Oblast, consistently working with local sources to produce its news coverage. Several of its reports have documented the social, psychological and physical consequences of the war on the local population, rendering visible perspectives that are often marginalised by leading international media. In addition to daily news reports in which Gwara Media demonstrates its staunch perseverance in the face of threats, emergency situations and war, the media platform engages in long-term documentation projects. It also excels in the use of images, videos and documentary films. In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gwara Media initiated an innovative fact-checking project entitled ‘Perevirka – Do it together’ for the city’s residents. As the second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv has regularly been a target for Russian propaganda, bombs and cluster munitions. Serhii Prokopenko, the current editor of Gwara Media, established the independent platform in 2015. It is actually the only Kharkiv-based newsroom that reports in Ukrainian and English. Gwara Media provides Ukrainian perspectives to the European magazine network Eurozine, which publishes articles on European culture and politics. It is also a member of IFCN, the International Fact-Checking Network.

Mzia Amaglobeli (Georgia)
Journalist and media founder Mzia Amaglobeli has become the face of independent journalism in Georgia. She is receiving a Free Media Award for 25 years of commitment to journalistic integrity and ethical judgement, during which time she has established two of the most popular and trusted news platforms in the country: Batumelebi and Netgazeti. These news portals are published in Georgian. In various roles as reporter, founder and director, Mzia Amaglobeli has documented human rights abuses, corruption and poor political governance. The fight against disinformation and propaganda is strong in Batumelebi and Netgazeti, which have endured persecution under three governments. Mzia Amaglobeli, age 49, was arrested this past January during a protest against the authorities when she tried to put up a sticker calling for a national strike. After being released on bail, she was subsequently re-arrested for slapping the chief of police in Batumi after a verbal altercation. In August, she received a two-year prison sentence in what human rights groups deem to be a politically motivated case. In reality, she is being punished for exposing the regime’s corrupt activities over many years. She is the first female journalist in Georgia to be jailed on politically motivated charges since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. She went on a hunger strike to protest against the authorities for 38 days in January and February this year, and her health is currently in a critical state.

Direkt36 (Hungary)
Direkt36 is an investigative online media outlet based in Budapest that exposes abuses of power as well as corruption. The platform is receiving a Free Media Award for its powerful in-depth journalism. Established by András Pethő, Gergő Sáling and Balázs Weyer in 2015, Direkt36 has evolved into a high-impact investigative multimedia platform. All material is published in Hungarian and English. This past February, Direkt36 published the documentary film ‘A Dinasztia’/‘The Dynasty’, in which the journalists investigate the financial empire built by the Orbán family over many years. The film provides an unprecedented view of the wealth accumulated in Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s inner circle, focusing on his son-in-law István Tiborcz and eldest daughter Ráhel Orbán. It reveals how Tiborcz’s businesses have benefited greatly from lucrative public procurement contracts that EU auditors have flagged as illegal. The family has received substantial state support for expanding its luxury properties. Within 24 hours of its release, the film on YouTube had one million views, and as of today, it has been viewed nearly 3.9 million times. The documentary has sparked serious public discussions in Hungary. Direkt36 is behind many significant disclosures about cyber surveillance, Russian hacking operations, and the spread of infections in Hungarian hospitals. The platform actively contributes to international journalistic collaboration under the auspices of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and it has collaborated with French Le Monde and Portuguese Expresso on cross-border projects. In the face of constant attacks from politicians and government-controlled media, Direkt36 stands firm.

Alexandra Astakhova (Russia)
Russian photographer and photojournalist Alexandra Astakhova is receiving a Free Media Award for her fearless documentation of court cases against political prisoners in Russia. While many independent journalists and photographers left Russia when the country initiated a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, many others were arrested and convicted, or are still awaiting sentencing in Russian prisons for their professional journalism. Alexandra Astakhova remained behind in Russia. As a freelancer, she uses images and words to tell the story of people prosecuted in Russia in wartime. From 2022 to 2025, she covered the vast majority of the trials of those being persecuted by the state for their work or for their words. She documents the harrowing conditions experienced by people caught in a battle against the machinery of government. Always maintaining a human touch, Alexandra Astakhova photographs the lives of political prisoners for the world to see, exposing what they go through, politically and socially in these extraordinary times. This important work translates into significant personal and professional risk.

Belarusian Investigative Center (Belarus)
The Belarusian Investigative Center (BIC), currently working in exile in Warsaw, is the recipient of a Free Media Award for its in-depth analyses and news. When it comes to investigative journalism, the BIC has ushered in a new chapter in Belarusian journalism. Since 2020, in addition to exposing state corruption and fake news, the Belarusian Investigative Center has focused on how various actors in the region have circumvented restrictive sanctions imposed on cooperation with Belarus and Russia due to Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and Belarus’ involvement there. The Center has published news that has often triggered rapid corrective responses from the parties involved. The Belarusian Investigative Center was established in 2018. The Belarusian authorities cracked down on the Center in 2021 as part of assaults on independent journalism, forcing the Center into exile. Belarusian Investigative Journalism is a web portal with a popular YouTube channel. BIC produces several video programmes that provide news coverage, economic analyses and the discrediting of fake news in Russia and Belarus. These sources are frequently quoted and republished. The Center publishes in three languages: Belarusian, Russian and English. The Belarusian Investigative Center is a member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. BIC’s investigations uncover over $1 billion worth of schemes of corruption and sanctions evasion per year. Other subjects of investigations include war crimes, organized crime and covert influence of Belarus and Russia in the EU.

Nargiz Absalamova (Azerbaijan)
Journalist Nargiz Absalamova from Azerbaijan is being presented with a Free Media Award for her courageous reports and short documentaries in Abzas Media. She has dedicated herself to covering climate issues, corruption and social rights in particular. She has given a voice to people from vulnerable local communities as well as to women and young people who are victims of discrimination. Her video reports have received millions of views on social media, and they have had a positive impact on civil society. Her camera has been confiscated by the authorities and she has been subjected to police brutality on a number of occasions. On December 1, 2023, Nargiz Absalamova, age 25, was arrested on fabricated charge of currency smuggling. In June 2025 she was sentenced to eight years in prison after she was accused of more aggrevated charges like illegal entrepreneurship, tax evasion and money laundering. As many as nine female journalists have been jailed on financial charges in Azerbaijan in recent months. International media organisations have pointed out that the attacks on female journalists are not gender neutral, but rather an attempt to remove them from public life. This is not simply a warning about freedom of the press in Azerbaijan. Being a woman who works as a journalist in an authoritarian country is both challenging and dangerous.

Jury:
All candidates were nominated by international institutions and organisations that are active in eastern and central Europe, or by experts on the region.
The international jury that selected this year’s prize laureates consisted of Alice Bota, Eastern Europe correspondent for Die ZEIT; Juri Durkot, Ukrainian journalist and translator; Attila Mong, Berlin-based representative in Europe for The Committee to Protect Journalists; Guri Norstrøm, foreign correspondent for Norwegian public broadaster NRK; Martin Paulsen, head of the Department of Foreign Languages at the University of Bergen; Inna Sangadzhieva, director for Europe and Central Asia at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee; and Silvia Stöber, reporter and editor for ARD Tagesschau.