Free Media Awards 2018
Chai Khana - South Caucasus

The website covers news and operates across the national boundaries between Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Chai Khana’s coverage of stories, including text, photos and multimedia, as well as documentary films, is original and innovative. They challenge stereotypes and promote social engagement among their readers, aiming at minorities and women, as well as people in rural districts and areas of conflict. The focus is often on problems involving ethnic minorities, gender and sustainable development.

Chai Khana gives a voice to marginalised groups in society, broaching topics that have rarely, if ever, been addressed previously. Examples of such stories include a series of articles on the grieving parents of fallen soldiers on both sides of the border with Nagorno Karabakh, reports on Armenia’s failure to integrate Armenian refugees returning from Azerbaijan, and the difficulties that stateless people face in Georgia. The issues are followed up over time, so that topics do not simply slip into oblivion.

Chai Khana was founded in 2014 and came online in 2015. The news items are published in English and Russian, and many of the articles are also translated to Georgian, Armenian and Azeri. The media platform gives people in the region an opportunity to notice the similarities and differences between the three countries.

Website: chai-khana.org/en

Chai Khana was nominated by the Federal Republic of Germany’s embassy in Georgia.