The winners and runner-ups of the 10th European Press Prize were announced on June 2 during a ceremony in Madrid.

The prizes were awarded in four categories: Distinguished Reporting, Innovation, Investigative reporting, and Public Discourse. The judges also presented a Special Award for “for excellent journalism to one striking entry which defies categories and disciplines”.

Olga Rudenko, editor-in-chief of The Kyiv Independent, was a special speaker at the award ceremony, speaking about “the importance and direction of journalism during these uncertain times.”

This year’s nominees tackle issues around Europe’s economy and democracy, from the investigation into Finish police to a look into propaganda and narratives in today’s world.

Here are the runner-ups and winners of the 2022.

The Distinguished Reporting Award 

Winner 

What Guantánamo made of them

Bastian Berbner & John Goetz

Die Zeit (Germany)

A story of Mohamedou, a prisoner in the U.S. prison Guantánamo, and his torturer. A piece about forgiveness and human strength. 

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Runner-up 

One in every five Polish vets has considered suicide: “I broke down on December 23rd when I had to put down nine animals in one day.”

Anna Kiedrzynek, 

Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland)

A report follows veterinarians’ lives, looking at how they deal with the death and suicide of their colleagues.

The Innovation Award 

Winner 

Cities for rent: Investigating corporate landlords across Europe

By a team of journalists representing media organisations from Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands 

(see the full list of journalists’ names and media here) 

25 investigative and data journalists and visualisation experts collaborated to cover the situation in the European housing market. 

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Runner-up 

This is us 

By a team of journalists from Die Zeit (Germany) 

The article presents the thoughts of 49 individuals as they reflect on German society during the election year. 

The investigative reporting award 

Winner 

The investigation is closed

Paavo Teittinen

Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)

An investigative piece uncovering serious misconduct in how Finnish police deal with human trafficking 

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Runner-up 

Huge quantities of Chinese cigarettes smuggled into Ukraine

Anna Myroniuk & Andrei Ciurcanu 

Kyiv Post & OCCRP (Ukraine)

An investigation of China National Tobacco Corporation’s expansion into illegal markets 

The public discourse award 

Winner 

Memory in the age of impunity

Peter Pomerantsev

Coda Story (Georgia)

A thorough think piece about the breakage of once connected narrative that shows why certain stories – like the abduction of Roman Protasevich or other instances of repression – fail to capture our attention 

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Runner-up

Belarus: escaping Lukashenko’s regime at any cost

Denis Vejas

ereb (France) & NARA (Lithuania)

A story of Sviatlana Kutkovish – a Belarus refugee to Lithuania whose supposed five hours trip turned into a six-month journey to escape the dictatorship 

The special award 

Woman’s body, man’s medicine

Lara Bonilla, Ricard Marfà, Idoia Longan

Diari ARA (Catalonia, Spain)

A look into why people lack knowledge of women’s bodies – and how medical research is permeated with gender inequality

Photo by Brands&People on Unsplash

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