The winners of the first “Srđan Aleksić” Regional Journalist Award, which will be formally awarded on December 10 this year in Banja Luka, are Tamara Skrozza, in the category “For Courage”, Vitkor Ivančić in the category “For Contribution to the Community”, and the Krik portal in the category “For media”.
The regional journalist award “Srđan Aleksić” is announced for professional and socially responsible media reporting that results in concrete benefits for people and communities (contributes to reconciliation, protection of human rights, inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable groups, gender equality, rule of law, culture of dialogue, fight against hate speech and fake news), and for shown journalistic courage.
“Today, there are few hands in which the values promoted by the “Srđan Aleksić” award would be safer than they will be in the hands of journalist Tamara Skrozza. That “human duty”, which cost Srđan his life, she performs through her texts consistently for decades, caring towards the victims and merciless towards the perpetrators, immune to political pressure and tabloid tortures”, it is said, among other things, in the explanation of the jury which also recognized Tamara’s “cold-blooded ethics, fairness and professional morality”.
Journalist, editor, columnist and writer from Split, Viktor Ivančić, who has been a leader of free, independent and critical journalism in Croatia for almost forty years, but also in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, was declared the winner of the journalist award “For Contribution to the Community” by a convincing majority of the jury’s votes.
“His name has become synonymous with brave, penetrating and critical anti-regime journalism. The jury is aware that the award for contribution to the community with the honorable name of Srđan Aleksić, a young man who paid with his life for trying to protect a friend who was attacked simply because he was of a different nationality, belongs to Ivančić, without a doubt. In this sense, the jury emphasizes that the name of Viktor Ivančić, just like that of Srđan Aleksić, is the best guide for young journalists as to what professional and ethical qualities they should embrace when they enter the journalistic profession”, stated the jury.
The KRIK portal was recognized as “one of the few media that has taken upon itself a huge civilizational obligation to be an impartial, fair chronicler of one of the darkest periods for society in Serbia” and therefore, by the jury’s decision, this portal is the winner of the award “For the Media”.
By the way, this year’s competition for the Regional Award “Srđan Aleksić” received 83 nominations for 52 journalists and 13 media outlets, which were in the hands of a jury composed of: Ana Hegediš Lalić (Serbia), Boris Pavelić (Croatia), Vladan Mićunović (Montenegro), Berislav Jurič and Elvir Padalović (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
The journalist award is announced by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly of Banjaluka, the Network for Building Peace, Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, Media Institute from Montenegro and the Association for the Promotion of Media Culture, Art and Tolerance “Lupiga – the World through Ordinary Eyes” from Croatia.
The award ceremony will be organized on International Human Rights Day – December 10 in Banja Luka, as part of the “Days of Srđan Aleksić” event.
The “Srđan Aleksić” journalist award was announced to journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 10 years, and from this year, 2022, it will be extended to the regional level.
