site.bta2022 Red Line Journalism Against Corruption Awards Announced

The Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF), in cooperation with the America for Bulgaria Foundation, announced the winners of the 2022 Red Line Journalism Against Corruption Awards here on Friday. The ceremony took place on December 9 - the International Anti-Corruption Day. 

The jury of the third edition of the awards, chaired by BTA's Georgi Lozanov and comprised of Club Z editor-in-chief Svetlana Djamdjieva, journalist Kalin Manolov, lawyer Stoyan Madin, and ACF's Stefan Krastev, considered 36 nominations of journalists in all categories of the competition.

The Grand Prize for Investigative Journalism went to Free Europe's Genka Shikerova, for her series of stories presenting several iconic cases, such as the tax evasion by Lukoil Neftochim Burgas, the management of the Kapitan Andreevo border control checkpoint, the rigged firewood auctions, and the ambiguous biography of the caretaker Energy Minister.

The special award for investigative journalism went to Capital Weekly's Ivaylo Stanchev for a series of stories raising suspicions of conflict of interest, rigged procurement and abuse at Kozloduy NPP.

Darik Burgas's Lalka Dimitrova won the regional journalism award for exposing the lack of a reliable identification system for asylum seekers entering Bulgaria.

The prize for promoting the rule of law went to Polina Paunova of Capital Weekly - for a series of articles that illuminated practices contrary to the rule of law at the highest levels of power.

This year, the jury also awarded a special prize for the promotion of the rule of law to Free Europe's Tatiana Vaksberg for her series of publications promoting key concepts of international humanitarian law as they relate to the war in Ukraine.

The Young Journalist Award went to Kristiyan Yulzari, for an in-depth investigation into allegations of abuse in the allocation of funds for the development of youth activities by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

"Without the courage of journalists, who relentlessly expose well-hidden abuses and injustices to the public, the fight against corruption is impossible. This is the message of the awards, and our hope is that they pay tribute to the key contribution of the journalistic community to exposing and countering corrupt practices," said ACF Director Boyko Stankushev.