Prominent Ukrainian investigative journalist Serhiy Leshchenko has been awarded a prestigious European award for journalism excellence.
The Fritt Ord Foundation and the ZEIT Foundation
announced on March 6 that it had chosen Ukrainska Pravda’s Leshchenko as the
recipient of the groups’ 2013 Gerd Bucerius Free Press of Eastern Europe Prize.
“He files detailed reports on matters such as
corruption among the power elite. In connection with the preparations for the
soccer world championships in 2012, he wrote a number of critical articles
about who got awarded contracts and what they earned on them. As a journalist,
he is impartial, giving precedence to objective descriptions,” the foundation
noted.
Leshchenko, 32, was nominated for the prize by Heike
Dorrenbacher, head of the German Society for Eastern Europe in Berlin.
Leshchenko joined Ukrainska Pravda on Sept. 4, 2000 when he was still a fourth-year student at the Institute of Journalism. Prior to that he interned at Noviy Kanal under the tutelage of current member of parliament Andriy Shevchenko.
Four other individuals also received awards,
including Elena Kosyuchenko and Alexander Golts from Russia, and Mehmen Husynov
and Tahmina Tagizade from Azerbaijan. The Russian weekly newspaper Yakutsk
Vecherniy also was given an award.
The foundations’ press prizes seek to
strengthen the independent role of journalists, despite reprisals and financial
difficulties, and their willingness to not give in to censorship and to resist
self-censorship.
This year’s recipients were chosen from an
independent group of jurors from Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Turkey.
Winners of the press awards share prize money
in the amount of 70,000 euro. An award ceremony for the recipients will be held
at the Norwegian Nobel Institute on Thursday, June 20.
Kyiv Post staff writer
Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected].
