Free Media Awards
The ‘Free Media Awards’ is the name of the press prizes awarded by the two foundations The Fritt Ord Foundation and ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS. The prizes seek to highlight and strengthen the independent role of journalists,
The prizes provide support for journalists and media that report independently and refuse to give up in the face of threats.
The media operate under tremendous pressure in many countries in Eastern Europe. With the Free Media Awards, we aspire to encourage journalists and media to carry on their work, despite threats and violent oppression. With the Free Media Awards, we seek to express our respect and admiration in an effort to strengthen independent journalism.
The Fritt Ord Foundation and the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS have been awarding press prizes to media in Russia and Eastern Europe since 2004.
The prize laureates are chosen on the basis of nominations, which are then reviewed by an independent jury. The jury for the Free Media Awards consists of Alice Bota, reporter for Eastern Europe with Die ZEIT, Attila Mong, Berlin-based Europe representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Inna Sangadzhieva, Director of Europe and Central Asia Department at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Juri Durkot, Ukrainian journalist and translator, Martin Paulsen, head of the Foreign Languages Department at the University of Bergen, and Silvia Stöber, reporter and editor for ARD Tagesschau.
The Fritt Ord Foundation and the ZEIT Foundation awards 3 to 6 prizes annually.
