The winners of the Freedom of the Press Award 2011 gathered in Strasbourg in the first week of October to attend the award ceremony at the Council of Europe.  The winners were addressed by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, who accentuated the importance of the young journalists’ engagement in human rights reporting and stressed the power of media for the societal changes.

During their time in Strasbourg, the awarded journalists reported from the October 2011 session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Emmanuel Haddad, the winner of the written press, dipped his pen into the burning subject of the Palestinian question and scrutinised the journalists’ rights in Europe. The power of media also presented the subject of Jerneja Zavec’s audio contribution introducing the Media and Racism in Sport initiative. The winner in the category ‘Radio’ additionally recorded an interview with the Belarus theatrical group leader Nikolai Khalezin, while the photography award winner Ramin Mazur visualised the happening at the PACE with the black and white aesthetics.