Annual Journalism Awards of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia: Courage, Perseverance and Professionalism in Action

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) today presented its traditional annual awards, recognizing the most outstanding journalists and media professionals.

The Awards Committee, composed of German Filkov, Dusica Mrgja and Senat Zulbeari, this year awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award “Krste Petkov Misirkov” to Zvezdan Georgievski, in recognition of his lasting contribution to Macedonian journalism.

The Investigative Journalism Award “Jashar Erebara” was awarded to the Investigative Reporting Laboratory (IRL) for the story: A postal worker protected the ESM switchboards from ash, “ash-covered” the state budget.

For the best journalistic reporting on local and regional topics, the award went to Fisnik Dzhelili from Portalb.mk for the story “Violence among students – a serious alarm in Tetovo”.

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM), for the first time since its establishment, is establishing a prestigious award for the best documentary project of public interest this year, thus confirming its commitment to improving journalistic and media standards.

The commission, composed of prominent professionals, including German Filkov, Dusica Mrgja and Senat Zulbeari, and for the category of filmmakers, additionally Zoran Dogov and Saso Dokovski, was tasked with evaluating projects that stand out for their creativity, technical excellence and significance for the public interest.

The award for the best documentary project of public interest for 2024 was received by Ivan Popović for the article on the topic: Climate Migrations: Prespa in a Race against Time to Preserve its Water, published on the doma.edu.mk platform.

Recognition for special contribution to the promotion of professional investigative journalism was received by: The investigative journalism magazine KOD from TV Telma for the story: “The lottery tenders for the purchase of video terminals and the millions of euros”.

Aleksandar Dimitrievski and Mihail Miloshevski for the series of articles on the topic: Bojan Hristovski, holds a certificate of English language proficiency from a studio/school dating from a period in which the issuer of the certificate neither generated income (did not work), nor was he on the list of legal entities published on 360 degrees.

Trajce Antonovski, cameraman from IRL, for best camera and film expression for the story on the topic: Stolen Lives.

The winners of this year’s awards expressed gratitude for the recognition, emphasizing that the awards are a motivation for further work in the interest of the public.

The President of AJM, Mladen Chadikovski, in his address to the attendees emphasized the challenges faced by journalists and the importance of solidarity in the field: “Today, with these awards, we celebrate the courage, perseverance and professionalism of Macedonian journalists. We reward those who, through investigative stories, expose corruption and injustice. We reward those who go to the field, who talk to people, who write about voices that are rarely heard. We also celebrate those who, through their columns and analyses, make us think, reconsider and act. This year we had a record number of submitted applications, stories, topics, analyses, video projects. These awards should be exactly that – a symbol of solidarity, of togetherness, of support when it is most needed. The commission had a responsible task, but I am confident that it made a careful choice. Congratulations to everyone, not only to the winners – every good story is a victory for the public interest,” emphasized Chadikovski.

Anthony Belanger, Secretary General of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), also addressed the attendees at today’s event, congratulating the awardees and all those colleagues who submitted their own works. The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which is the largest global organization of journalists that unites over 600,000 media professionals from 187 unions and associations in more than 140 countries. The representative of the Awards Committee, German Filkov, emphasized that the selection was a challenge due to the high-quality applications. He said in his address: “Every committee thinks it has the hardest job in the world, but this time it really was. 4 categories, 48 ​​applications and – as many as 99 journalistic products, most of them complex stories and programs. And only 4 awards. And they could have been awarded to 40 people. It was exciting to once again watch and read, and to see 99 of the most significant journalistic achievements for 2024 gathered in one place. With all the problems, reservations and limitations that journalists face, I would say it was a year in which it can be said that journalism in Macedonia is alive and kicking, and journalists should be proud of their agility and ability. For each of the four categories for which awards are given, there was great and serious competition. I have been part of several committees for awarding journalistic awards, but I must say that for the first time among the members of the committee there were no different opinions, nor the need for additional efforts to reach consensus. For all four categories – the committee decided unanimously,” said Filkov.

The Journalists’ Association of Macedonia expresses its gratitude to all who participated in this year’s competition and remains committed to supporting professional journalism.