Journalism Prize Writing for CEE 2014 announced

Utl.: APA and Bank Austria invite journalists from all over Europe to submit entries - Prize Money of EUR 5,000

Vienna (OTS) -APA - Austria Press Agency and Bank Austria are this year inviting submissions for the international journalism prize Writing for CEE for the eleventh time. Journalists from all over Europe are invited to submit entries - articles that deal with Central and Eastern Europe or which are relevant for CEE. The Prize is EUR 5,000.

The closing date for entries is 31 July 2014 and entries must have been published between 1 August 2013 and 31 July 2014. Transcripts of radio and TV broadcasts as well as articles published online are also welcome. The prize winner will be chosen by an international jury and the prize will be awarded to contributions which promote mutual understanding and help to overcome borders and prejudice. The aim of Writing for CEE is to promote European integration by means of high-quality journalism.

The name of the winner will be announced and the prize presented at a gala event to be held in Vienna in November. The ten best authors will also be given an additional platform for the publication of their articles via the website www.apa.at/cee-award.

The journalism prize was founded in 2004 when ten Central and East European countries joined the European Union and to date has been awarded ten times. The winner in the first year was the Czech journalist Lubos Palata (2004). Other prize winners include the Bulgarian writer Diana Ivanova (2005), the Bosnian journalist Sefik Dautbegovic (2006), the Austrian writer Martin Leidenfrost (2007), Anna Koktsidou, a journalist who was born in Greece but grew up in Germany (2008), the Austrian investigative journalist and author Florian Klenk (2009), Azra Nuhefendic (2010) a Bosnian writer living in Italy, the Slovenian journalist and photographer Meta Krese (2011) and the Czech journalist Martin Ehl (2012). Last year, the French journalists Laurent Geslin and Sebastien Gobert won the prize for their report on the Ukrainian border with the EU.

Each year a prominent speaker delivers an address at the award ceremony. Guests of honour in the past have included Jiri Dienstbier an activist in the Czechoslovak dissident movement Charter 77 and subsequently Czech foreign minister, the first Slovenian president Milan Kucan, the East German civil rights activist Bärbel Bohley, the former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the former High Representative of the international community in Bosnia-Herzegovina Wolfgang Petritsch. The Czech writer and civil rights activist Pavel Kohout has also spoken at the event as has the former Polish dissident and Solidarnosc activist Adam Michnik.

Members of the jury, which meets in varying constellations, include last year's prize winners Laurent Geslin and Sebastien Gobert, the Czech communications expert Milan Smid, the Slovakian publicist Michael Berko, the communications consultant Ildiko Füredi-Kolarik, the Polish journalists Igor Janke und Pawel Bravo, the Hungarian radio journalist Julia Varadi, the Bulgarian writer Janina Dragostinova, the Austrian journalist Cornelia Vospernik, UniCredit Bank Austria's spokesperson for CEE Tiemon Kiesenhofer and the chair of the jury, deputy foreign policy editor at APA Alexandra Demcisin.

Entries must be submitted in the original language accompanied by a translation in English and the curriculum vitae of the author. Translations into German are welcome but are not obligatory. Further information and the entry form are available online at www.apa.at/cee-award.

(Schluss)

Enquiries:

Petra Haller
Deputy Head of Marketing & Communication
APA - Austria Press Agency
Tel.: +43 (0)1/36060-5710
petra.haller@apa.at

Tiemon Kiesenhofer
Press Spokesperson CEE Division
UniCredit Bank Austria
Tel.: +43 (0)5 05 05 - 56036
tiemon.kiesenhofer@unicreditgroup.at