In the last decade, more than 70 female journalists have been killed around the world. In the Western Balkans, female journalists have been targeted because of their work and their physical appearance, marital status or parental connections.

Winners tackled a range of issues ranging from the Azeri ruling family’s shady involvement in a resort to mafia gang warfare – and how the son of a fugitive former president made a fortune in Serbia.

European Broadcasting Union Academy (EBU Academy) in cooperation with editors and journalists from BIRN and CINS is organising a training in investigative journalism and encourages young journalists to apply.

In the last few years, the number of violent protests in the region has increased, as well as the number of incidents involving journalists who reported from inside the demonstrations. The violence is not only carried out by dissatisfied citizens, but also by members of the police force, so when reporting it is essential to be prepared and stay safe.

Applications are now open for submission of investigative articles.

Adam Santovac, Jelena Veljkovic, Aleksandar Djordjevic, Nemanja Rujevic, Sanja Kljajic and Ajdin Kamber were announced on December 29 as the winners of this year’s EU Awards for Investigative Journalism, given for stories published in 2019 in Serbia.

The jury awarded four journalists for “uncovering previously unexplored areas”, stressing that investigative journalism is of great importance for Kosovo and a wider region.

In an online event, the jury said all three stories from Bosnia are of utmost importance as “they point to many anomalies our society suffers, and that the government persistently ignores.”

Jury says it had a tough time evaluating the three best investigations out of a short list, as all three had the most important characteristic of good investigating journalism – ‘digging deeper under the surface’.

Presenting the annual awards, EU delegation commends authors of probing investigations into voting fraud, shoddy new builds and public officials’ extravagant travel expenses.