The Future Stories Award celebrates and recognises the achievements of investigative journalism, those that have just revealed something new and unnoticed or already shook things up. Looking for outstanding investigative works in several categories, the Future Stories Award is a unique opportunity for Lithuanian and Slovak journalists working in this field and focusing on the local stories of important but often less visible topics.
An expert Jury composed of representatives of Media4Change and European Dialogue and external experts is evaluating each application on the basis of several criteria and will decide who will receive awards in three main categories (corruption, environment, human rights) and four special categories (local/regional media, young media creators/new media, the best interactive presentation, interaction with citizens).
Quality investigative journalism is crucial for democracy, as it helps bring important, but intentionally or unintentionally hidden topics to light. Topics, which influence people’s lives or the whole society. If the investigations don’t catch attention of people, their impact is smaller. It’s also important for journalists to show their audiences that they care about their opinions and preferences when it comes to topics, approach to coverage, or format of the final report.
That’s why the organisers want to involve the public in this contest. It’s your turn now: seize the opportunity, take part, and decide on who will become the Audience’s Choice in the scope of the Future Stories Award 2021.
You may find the entries that are relevant for your region / city or cover the topic that you consider important. You may also like how the topic is covered or presented and then you will want to support the authors of the report and encourage them to do more quality work. It is completely up to you and your own criteria to decide who you will vote for.
You can check all twenty eligible investigations that have been submitted to the call for entries and vote for the stories that you find the best on this webpage.
The public voting started on 12 January 2022 at 00:00 CET and will be closed on 31 January 2022 at 23:59 CET.
Background: The Future Stories Award is one of the activities of the Media4Change – Future Investigative Story Lab project, which aims to support cooperation, innovation, and professional standards in the field of investigative journalism in Lithuania and Slovakia. It’s run by the National Institute for Social Integration (Media4Change programme) from Lithuania and European Dialogue from Slovakia.
The project has been co-financed by the European Commission – DG CONNECT under the 2019 call for proposals “Media freedom and investigative journalism” (Pilot Project: Supporting investigative journalism and media freedom in the EU).
Disclaimer: The European Commission’s support for the production of this article does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views of the authors only and are their sole responsibility. The Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Cover photo: geralt, pixabay.com
