Every two years, the Global Investigative Journalism Network presents the Global Shining Light Award, a unique award which honors investigative journalism in a developing or transitioning country, done under threat, duress, or in the direst of conditions.
Note: Deadline for submissions is May 15, 2017, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5), for stories published or broadcast between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016.
The winner receives an honorary plaque, US$2,000, and a trip to the 2017 Global Investigative Journalism Conference to accept the award in front of hundreds of their colleagues from around the world.
Online submissions are strongly preferred. If you need to send hard copy, mail it to: Global Shining Light Awards/GIJN, Pozsonyi Way 10, 2nd floor 8 door, Budapest 1137, Hungary. Any questions about the award should be emailed to shininglightaward@gijn.org.
If submissions are in languages other than English, you must provide a detailed English-language summary of a print or online story, or an English-language transcript of a broadcast script.
Background
Each year dozens of journalists and media workers are killed – and hundreds more are attacked, imprisoned or threatened – just for doing their job. Many of these violations of free expression occur in developing or emerging countries, and quite often during military conflicts. There are a number of international awards recognizing such attacks on freedom of expression.
But there is another clear trend that emerges in analyses of global attacks on reporters and the media. More and more journalists are being killed, and media outlets attacked, because they are carrying out important efforts in investigative journalism – exposing uncomfortable truths, shining light on systematic corruption, and providing accountability in societies yearning for democracy and development. There are more journalists killed each year covering corruption and politics as are killed covering wars, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
On behalf of the global investigative journalism community, GIJN is pleased to recognize and celebrate these courageous investigative journalists and their work. Read more about the previous winners and their remarkable investigative stories below.
Criteria
The journalist, journalism team, or media outlet provided independent, investigative reporting, which:
Originated in and affected a developing or emerging country- Was broadcast or published between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2016;
- Was of an investigative nature;
- Uncovered an issue, wrong-doing, or system of corruption which gravely affected the common good;
- And did so in the face of arrest, imprisonment, violence against them and their families, or threats and intimidation
Deadline for submissions is May 15, 2017, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5). Submissions after this will not be considered.
Previous Winners
2015 (Joint winners)
Unholy Alliances
Journalists: Miranda Patrucic; Dejan Milovac; Stevan Dojcinovic; Lejla Camdzic, Drew Sullivan, Jody McPhillips, Rosemary Armao (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)
This year-long investigation exposed how Montenegro’s once-untouchable Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and his family bank are at the center of an unholy alliance of government, organized crime, and business. Far from a model candidate for the EU, Montenegro in effect functions as a mafia state.
Empire of Ashes
Journalists: Mauri König with Albari Rosa and Diego Antonelli (Brazil); Martha Soto (Colombia); and Ronny Rojas (Costa Rica), Gazeta do Povo, Brazil
A five-month investigation revealed how cigarette smuggling is overtaking marijuana and cocaine as the most profitable racket in parts of Latin America. The illicit trade is reshaping the geopolitics of organized crime in South America, and is covertly led by Paraguay President, Horacio Cartes.
Citation of excellence
Yanukovych Leaks
Journalists: Dmytro Gnap; Anna Babinets; Vlad Lavrov; Oleksandr Akimenko; Katya Gorchinskaya; Natalie Sedletska; Oleg Khomenok; Mariya Zemlyanska; Olesya Ivanova; Maksym Opanasenko; Kateryna Kapliuk; Denys Bigus.
In the chaotic days of Ukraine’s 2014 revolution, an impromptu team of journalists banded together to rescue 25,000 documents nearly destroyed by the country’s fleeing president. Their work documented an extraordinary history of corruption and became evidence in criminal cases against Yanukovych and his cronies for stealing millions of dollars.
More information about the 2015 finalists here and video here.
2013 (Joint winners)
Cato Manor: Inside a South African Police Death Squad
Journalists: Mzilikazi wa Afrika, Stephan Hofstatter and Rob Rose, Sunday Times
After more than a year cultivating sensitive sources and obtaining grizzly evidence in photo and print, the team exposed how a police unit operated as a hit squad by executing crime suspects while claiming to be acting in self-defense.
Azerbaijan Corruption
Journalists: Khadija Ismayilova, Nushabe Fatullayeva, Pavla Holcova, and Jaromir Hason in a collaboration by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Radio Free Europe, and the Czech Center for Investigative Journalism
The story laid bare the questionable business dealings of president Ilham Aliyev’s family, who stood to add billions of dollars to their already enormous wealth through a gold mining operation. The team exposed how the family used a consortium of one UK and three offshore companies as a front for their business dealings.
Citation of excellence
Taxation without Representation
Journalists: Umar Cheema, Center for Investigative Reporting in Pakistan
Cheema obtained and analyzed tax records of all 446 members of Pakistan’s parliament and the president. His investigation revealed that nearly 70 percent of lawmakers failed to file tax returns. The story caused huge controversy and debate in Pakistan, a country that suffers from one of the world’s lowest rates of revenue collection.
2011
Secret Diaries
Journalists: James Alberti, Katia Brembatti, Karlos Kohlbach, and Gabriel Tabatcheik, Gazeta do Povo and PRC Television, Brazil
The reporters spent two years building a database to reveal how the Parana state legislative assembly systematically pilfered as much as $400 million in public funds. The 2010 series drew 30,000 people to the streets in anti-corruption protests and resulted in more than 20 criminal investigations.
2010
Investigating the Economic Structure Behind the Moldovan Regime
Journalists: Vitalie Calugareanu (Moldova), Vlad Lavrov (Ukraine), Stefan Candea (Romania), Dumitru Lazur (Moldova), and Irina Codrean (Moldova)
The journalists worked together to expose how the former president of Moldova abused his power to enrich himself and his family. They obtained information on Voronin’s private properties from 1996-2009 and showed how he used his position to create monopolies for his family businesses.
2008
Gangsterism and the Faulty Legal System
Journalist: Sonali Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Photo: SKUP
Sonali Samarasinghe exposed how a powerful government minister used his influence and connections to the prime minister to run roughshod over the media and the justice system. Samarasinghe was later forced to flee the country after her husband was murdered and her own life was threatened.
2007
Power Brokers
Journalists: Paul Christian Radu and Sorin Ozon, Romania Centre for Investigative Journalism; Eldina Pleho and Alison Knezevic, Centre for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia; Stanimir Vlaglenov (Bulgaria), and Altin Raxhimi (Albania).
The project investigated an energy crisis that caused massive power outages across Romania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, and Albania. The series exposed questionable deals by shadowy businessmen operating across the Balkans that returned huge profits to power traders but resulted in exorbitant electricity rates applied to impoverished citizens.
