Fritt Ord Foundation Competition 2015

April 16 2015

The three winners of the Fritt Ord Foundation Competition for upper secondary school pupils were celebrated today, Thursday, 16 April, at the Fritt Ord Foundation’s premises. The prizes were awarded by Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen. Speeches were given by Knut Olav Åmås, Executive Director of the Fritt Ord Foundation, Guri Hjeltnes, Trustee of the Fritt Ord Foundation and Henrik G. Bastiansen, Chair of the Prize Committee.

First prize went to Magnus Bjørnbekk from the Oslo Cathedral School, for the essay "Back to the Roots" (pdf).

Second prize went to Amalie Berg, Maypia Dahl and Iver Jensen from Hadsel Upper Secondary School, Nordland County, for the film “Said and Unsaid”.

Third prize went to Miriam Johansen and Fredrik Opseth from Bjerke Upper Secondary School, Oslo, for the film “My hero: Kim Friele”.

First prize is a grant for NOK 20 000, second prize for NOK 15 000 and third prize for NOK 10 000. The prizes also include a trip to Strasbourg, where all the prize laureates will visit the EU Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.

The films:


Les mer om konkurransen her.

News

Call for nominations: Free Media Awards 2025

March 14 2025

In collaboration with the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS of Hamburg, the Fritt Ord Foundation has allocated the Free Media Awards annually since 2004 to Eastern European journalists and media that defy every obstacle to tirelessly ensure independent press coverage. Russia’s war against Ukraine and the subsequent wave of disinformation clearly demonstrates the need for independent reporting in the region. Journalist, editorial teams and media companies in and from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Hungary who make a contribution to press freedom through their investigative, independent reporting can be nominated for the Free Media Awards.

Civitates' Tech & Democracy open call

March 6 2025

Civitates – The European Democracy Fund is a pooled philanthropic fund that was set up in 2018 for the sole purpose of addressing democratic decline and closing civic space in Europe. The case for confronting these threats is growing increasingly urgent. Fritt Ord Foundation is one of the initiators and partners of Civitates.

Civitates has launched its Tech and Democracy open call to support organisations working to ensure safer, more inclusive online spaces (social media platforms, search engines etc.) by improving the enforcement of EU tech regulations at the national level.

This open call offers a unique opportunity to strengthen civil society’s role in holding the tech sector accountable, with a focus on key EU regulations such as the Digital Services Act, GDPR, AI Act or the European Media Freedom Act to name a few.

Norwegians increasingly more positive to computer games

March 5 2025

Norwegians are increasingly more positive to accepting computer games as culture

About 17 per cent have developed a more favourable view of computer games over the past year. Six of ten play computer games, and one of three plays computer games weekly. At the same time, computer games are ranked as having lower status than books and music, for example.
“Computer games deserve more attention and discussion”, contends Joakim Lie of Fritt Ord.

– Computer games are also art

March 4 2025

“The problem with far too many media reports about computer games is that they start begin with sentences like: ‘computer games have come a long way since Pac-Man’,” sighs American computer game critic Jacob Geller.

“Let us first simply agree that computer games are indeed an art form and an expression of culture, and then let us examine the works as part of the history of art and culture.