On September 25 and 26, Athens became the meeting point for Europe’s top cross-border investigative journalists at the 2024 IJ4EU UNCOVERED Conference, hosted at iMEdD International Journalism Forum this year. The event brought together Europe’s investigative journalism community for a day of bold cross-border stories, open debates and shared lessons.
Check out the photos from the conference below. Share your favourite moments on Twitter using #IJ4EU, and don’t forget to tag @ECPMF!
Three investigations. Three powerful reminders of why cross-border journalism matters.
Journalists behind hard-hitting investigations into soaring European medicine prices, Israeli attacks on Palestinian reporters, and EU complicity in migrant expulsions in North Africa have won the 2025 IJ4EU Impact Awards.
Sharing equal honours, each of the three winning teams received €5,000 in prize money at the annual awards of the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) fund, which supports cross-border watchdog reporting.
In alphabetical order, the winning investigations were:
The jury also gave an honourable mention to How an EU-funded security force helped Senegal crush democracy protests, by reporters working with Al Jazeera English and Fundación porCausa.
“Impact is not always a court ruling, policy change or political event,” Paul Caruana Galizia, a member of the independent jury that awarded the prizes, said, speaking of the Gaza Project.
“Sometimes it is clarity: meticulous reconstruction that forces a public reckoning and restores the human detail that blackout conditions try to erase. That is impact, and it is ongoing.”
Excellence in collaborative reporting
The prizes were presented on 26 September in Athens during the IJ4EU UNCOVERED Conference, hosted by the iMEdD International Journalism Forum.
The IJ4EU Impact Awards, now in their fifth year, honour excellence in collaborative reporting on public-interest stories that cross borders. The awards are open to all eligible teams, regardless of whether they have received IJ4EU funding. None of this year’s winning investigations were supported by IJ4EU grants.
The 2025 awards drew 36 nominations from 58 countries, with every EU member state represented. The jury selected the winners from a shortlist compiled by evaluators at Leipzig University.
This year’s jury was chaired by Gill Phillips, director of editorial legal services at The Guardian. Other members were Paul Caruana Galizia, an award-winning investigative journalist at the Financial Times; Mira Milosevic, executive director of the Global Forum for Media Development; Maribel Königer, director of journalism and media at ERSTE Foundation; and Kolja Weber, founder of FlokiNET.The IJ4EU Impact Award is managed by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom in partnership with the other implementing partners of the IJ4EU fund: the International Press Institute, the European Journalism Centre and Arena for Journalism in Europe. IJ4EU is co-funded by the European Commission and philanthropic donors including Adessium Foundation and Fritt Ord Foundation.
Lives of millions
The jury commended the team behind Deadly Prices for exposing inequalities in Europe that affect the lives of millions of people.
Using corporate revenue reports, hospital billing data, leaked reimbursement contracts and interviews with insiders, the investigation sought an answer to a critical question: Why are life-saving medicines still out of reach for so many in Europe?
In an unprecedented investigation, the team calculated estimated prices for critical drugs in nine EU countries, exposing how pharmaceutical giants exploit opaque pricing systems, lobbying power and intellectual property rules to keep drug costs high across the continent.
“Deadly Prices is an influential investigation that revealed how pharmaceutical companies exploit Europe’s fragmented pricing system, leaving patients in smaller countries without access to life-saving treatments,” jury member Milosevic said.
‘Commitment to accountability’
The 50-strong team behind the Gaza Project used witness testimony, expert analysis, satellite imagery and 3D modelling to document a chilling pattern of Israeli attacks on Palestinian members of the press — allegations the Israeli military denies.
Since Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, Palestine has become the most dangerous place on earth for media workers, with about 200 journalists killed in Gaza and the West Bank.
“For its methodological rigour under extreme constraints; its innovative use of satellite analysis and photogrammetry; its collaboration across borders and newsrooms; and its commitment to accountability when accountability is hardest, the IJ4EU jury recognises The Gaza Project with an Impact Award,” Caruana Galizia said.
‘Changed the debate’
The team behind Desert Dumps drew praise for what jury members described as the most comprehensive account to date of how European migration policy fuels abuse beyond its borders.
Across North Africa, tens of thousands of migrants have been forcibly removed and abandoned in barren desert zones, left at risk of starvation, violence and death. These expulsions are carried out with European funds, masked by the sanitised language of “migration management” — and often, with Europe’s knowledge.JBVJYD
The investigation reveals that EU-sourced resources, including money, vehicles and surveillance technology, directly enable these “desert dumps”, which systematically target Black communities through racial profiling and forceful expulsion in Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia, even after people’s legal status and livelihoods in these countries have long been established.
The jury recognised the innovative, cross-border collaboration for exposing double moral standards and contributing to one of the most urgent political debates for the EU.
“This investigation changed the debate,” jury member Königer said. “The horrible term ‘desert dump’ has entered the vocabulary of NGOs and policymakers. It reminds us Europeans that the values we invoke must also apply where people are desperately trying to reach their sphere of influence.”
Calls for an inquiry
The jury commended Andrei Popoviciu and José Bautista, the two journalists behind How an EU-funded security force helped Senegal crush democracy protests, for their unflinching work exposing corruption and rights abuses in West Africa.
The investigation found that Senegal’s EU-funded GAR-SI security force was used to crush protests over opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, leaving dozens dead and many more injured or arrested.
The investigation prompted calls in the European Parliament for a formal inquiry.
“The articles demonstrate how an elite unit — financed, trained and equipped for fighting cross-border crime — was used to suppress dissent in Senegal,” jury member Weber said.
“It is also a great example of how EU agencies that are supposed to uphold European values fail to do exactly this and also waste millions of euros.”
Winners of Europe’s leading award for cross-border investigative journalism will be announced on 26 September 2024.
We are thrilled to announce the distinguished jury for the IJ4EU Impact Award 2024! Consisting of renowned journalists and media freedom advocates, the jury’s insights is instrumental in recognizing and honouring the most impactful, ground-breaking, and innovative investigations published between October 2022 and December 2023.
The jury met earlier in August 2024 convened to meticulously review all the nominations and determine the winners for this year’s awards. After thorough deliberations, they have selected three outstanding winners whose work exemplifies the highest standards in cross-border collaborative journalism. The winners will be announced on 26 September during an award ceremony held at IJ4EU’s annual UNCOVERED Conference, in conjunction with the iMEdD International Journalism Forum in Athens.
Here are the members of the IJ4EU Impact Award 2024 jury.
Paul Caruana Galizia became a journalist at Tortoise after his mother was assassinated and since then has won an Orwell Prize special award, a British Journalism Award and Press Award, and other honours for his reporting. With his brothers, he has received a Magnitsky Human Rights Award and an Anderson-Lucas-Norman Award for campaigning to achieve justice for Daphne. His book A Death in Malta won the Cornelius Ryan Award from the Overseas Press Club.
Gabriela Manuli is the Deputy Director of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), an association of 250 non-profit organisations in 91 countries dedicated to investigative reporting. In 2019, she co-founded the GIJN Women Group, a network created to discuss issues related to women and non-binary investigative journalists. A native of Argentina (and currently based in Budapest, Hungary), she has been a journalist for more than 20 years (working for radio, TV, magazines and newspapers) and has extensive international experience in Latin America, Europe and the United States.
Nik Williams is a media freedom and free expression advocate based in Glasgow, who currently contributes to Index on Censorship‘s work on SLAPPs, digital rights and transnational repression. He is the co-chair of the UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition and the convenor of the Scottish Anti-SLAPP Working Group. At ECPMF, he coordinated the inaugural year of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), which responds to violations of media freedom in Europe. Previously, Nik led Scottish PEN’s campaigning and advocacy, focusing on defamation reform, free expression, digital rights and surveillance policy. Nik is also the co-chair of the investigative journalism co-op, The Ferret.
Saranda Ramaj has been working at newspaper Koha Ditore since 2013. Her coverage includes public procurement, the justice system, and corruption in healthcare. Saranda systematically develops complex research in these fields unveiling irregularities, corruption and organised crime. With her stories, she also has prevented the signing of illegal tenders worth millions that were mainly policy-related businesses. In her eleven years as a journalist, she has been awarded 19 prizes for investigative journalism. Saranda was awarded Journalist of the Year 2022 in Kosovo. Since 2016, Saranda has also been conducting various studies with national and international non-profit organisations, especially in the areas of health policy and human rights.
Christopher Hird is the founder and managing director of Dartmouth Films , which has pioneered new ways of funding, producing and distributing documentaries in the UK. A former investment analyst in the City, he worked as a journalist on the Economist, Daily Mail, New Statesman and Sunday Times, where he was the editor of Insight. He is former managing editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the author of Investigative Journalism Works: The Mechanism of Impact.
Winners of Europe’s leading prize for cross-border investigative journalism will be announced on September 26.
Ten cross-border investigations have been shortlisted for the fourth annual IJ4EU Impact Award, honouring excellence in collaborative journalism in Europe.
An independent jury chaired by Maltese journalist Paul Caruana Galizia will choose three winning teams, which will be revealed on September 26, 2024. Each will receive €5,000.
The winners will be announced at an award ceremony held at the end of IJ4EU’s UNCOVERED Conference, hosted this year by the iMEdD International Journalism Forum in Athens, Greece. Find out more about registering for both events.
Below are the 10 shortlisted entries, in alphabetical order and selected from a pool of nominations by independent evaluators assembled by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, a partner in the IJ4EU fund.
The award is open to cross-border journalistic teams of any kind, regardless of whether or not they have received support from the IJ4EU fund.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a group of Nordic journalists has been investigating a world of Russian spying, seabed warfare and disinformation, revealing evidence of a complex hybrid war. They have produced a seven-part podcast series, a three-episode TV-series, as well as several articles.
In March 2022, Russia bombed the Mariupol Drama Theater, used as a shelter for thousands of Ukrainian civilians. Using eyewitness testimonies and visual evidence, a team led by Forensic Architecture reconstructed events, countering Russian attempts to erase the truth.
Journalists investigating disinformation are threatened, jailed and in extreme cases, like that of Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh, killed. Forbidden Stories gathered more than 100 journalists from 30 media outlets to expose the inner workings of the global, secretive world of disinformation mercenaries.
Governments use welfare surveillance algorithms with little transparency, leading to discrimination against vulnerable populations, this series of collaborative investigations led by Lighthouse Reports reveals as it probes under the bonnet of secretive AI.
What happens to those who die trying to reach the European Union? Journalists have confirmed the existence of 1,015 unmarked graves of migrants buried in 65 cemeteries across Europe, revealing how EU migration policy has failed both the dead and the living
Forbidden Stories brings together 50 journalists from 16 news organisations to continue the work of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, killed for exposing illegal activities in the Amazon. “The murderers of Bruno and Dom will not succeed in preventing this story from being told.”
An investigation by 18 newsrooms reveals that almost 23,000 sites all over Europe are contaminated by toxic “forever chemicals” found in commercial products. PFAS are linked to cancer and infertility, among a dozen other diseases.
Led by freelance photojournalist Hanna Jarzabek, this investigation lays bare the dire conditions facing migrants and refugees in Europe’s last primaeval forest along the Polish-Belarusian border – and Poland’s double standards in helping asylum seekers.
An investigation led by the EBU Investigative Journalism Network reveals how thousands of Ukrainian kids are being transferred into Russia from the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin says Russia is saving them. Kyiv calls it genocide.
This investigation by Solomon, Forensis, The Guardian and ARD takes a forensic look at a 2023 shipwreck that killed more than 500 irregular migrants in Greek waters. Contradicting official accounts, the journalists find a failure to mobilise help and evidence that survivor statements were tampered with.
The Maltese journalist will oversee the selection of winners of IJ4EU’s annual prize for cross-border watchdog journalism.
Paul Caruana Galizia, an award-winning Maltese journalist, will serve as the jury chair for the IJ4EU Impact Awards 2024, honouring excellence in cross-border investigative journalism in Europe.
Caruana Galizia, an editor and reporter at Tortoise Media, became a journalist after the assassination of his mother, Daphne Caruana Galizia, in 2017.
Since then, he has won an Orwell Prize Special Award, a British Journalism Award, a Press Award and numerous other honours for his reporting. He and his brothers have received a Magnitsky Human Rights Award and an Anderson-Lucas-Norman Award for their campaign to achieve justice for Daphne.
His book, A Death in Malta, won the Cornelius Ryan Award from the Overseas Press Club.
Caruana Galizia’s unwavering dedication to uncovering the truth and his exemplary reporting make him the perfect choice to lead the jury for this year’s IJ4EU Impact Award.
He is the fourth jury chair to oversee the selection of winners of the annual awards, which offer three cash prizes of €5,000 to journalistic teams that have pushed the envelope in reporting on transnational subjects.
Previous chairs were Hungarian freelance journalist Attila Mong; Joanna Krawcyzk, deputy managing director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States; and Shaun Walker, Central and Eastern Europe correspondent for The Guardian.
This year’s Impact Award ceremony will take place on September 26 at IJ4EU’s UNCOVERED Conference, hosted in partnership with the iMEdD International Journalism Forum in Athens.
Heorhii Shabayev is a journalist with Schemes (Skhemy), an investigative news project run by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. He is a graduate of the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the author of a dozen investigations into corruption in the government, the construction industry, and in large state-owned enterprises.
Charlotte Alfred is an investigative editor and journalist. She runs Lighthouse Reports’ War Winners newsroom which investigates exploitation and profiteering in countries emerging from conflict, in partnership with local and exiled journalists. Previously based in the Middle East, she has worked in news, documentary and longform, reporting on migration, misinformation, corruption and conflict.
Twitter: @charlottealfred
Anna Myroniuk is the head of investigations at the Kyiv Independent. Anna has run investigative projects on human rights, healthcare and illicit trade. She also investigated political and corporate misconduct and alleged wrongdoings in the Ukraine army’s leadership. Anna holds a Masters in Investigative Journalism from the City University of London. She is a Chevening Scholar, the European Press Prize 2023 winner, the winner of the #AllForJan Award 2023, an honoree of the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Media & Marketing list, the runner-up in the investigative reporting category of the 2022 European Press Prize, and a finalist of the 2022 Ukraine’s National Investigative Journalism Award and the 2020 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award.
Twitter: @AnnaMyroniuk
Elena Loginova joined OCCRP in 2017 as an investigative reporter. She has been a team member on the Paradise Papers, FinCEN Files, and Pandora Papers projects. Elena also worked as a filmmaker for Slidstvo.Info, an OCCRP member center in Ukraine. In 2021, she received the Ukrainian “Honor of Profession” award in the investigative journalism category for her documentary Break the Bank.
Elena was a reporter/producer for the investigative documentary Killing Pavel about the murder of Ukrainian journalist Pavel Sheremet. The documentary won the 2017 Investigative Reporters and Editors medal (USA) and the 2018 DIG award (Italy). She has a degree in International Information from National Aviation University.
Twitter: @ElenaMultipass
Jelena Prtorić is a freelance journalist who has reported for a wide variety of publications in English, French and her native Croatian. Her work has focused on gender and human rights, migration, the environment/climate, and social movements through an investigative and (often) cross-border lens. Since 2020, Jelena has been collaborating with Arena for Journalism in Europe, working on the development of the Arena Climate Network and curating the program for Dataharvest – a European investigative journalism conference.
