European Press Prize 2027 now open for entries

From 01 November 2026 to 10 December 2026 (12:00 CET), we will be accepting submissions for the upcoming European Press Prize season. For this year — the fifteenth in our history — the ever-evolving European media landscape has brought with it some changes for the Prize.

Much like in recent seasons, we will be accepting submissions across five unique Categories, with the aim of opening up the European Press Prize to as broad an audience of journalists as possible. However, we want to make sure that our Categories reflect the ever-changing profession of journalism. For that reason, we are excited to implement some changes this year. 

Platform neutrality

First of all, as of this season, the Investigative Reporting and Innovation Categories are becoming entirely platform neutral. This means that any form of output for those categories — including (online) articles, documentaries, movies, TV broadcasts, podcasts, and any other types of journalism — are all eligible for submission. 

Changes to Public Discourse

Elsewhere, we are expanding the scope of our Public Discourse Category. Starting this year, the Category will spotlight journalism that helps audiences make sense of the world. Beyond reporting and analysing the news, it recognises work that explains complex topics and issues, offering the context and interpretation needed to better understand the society we live in.

Geographic eligibility

From the 2027 season onwards, the Prize is also implementing new rules on geographical eligibility. Eligible projects must now meet two of the following three criteria:

• The submitter’s nationality is European or their country of residence is in Europe;
• The publication or outlet is based in Europe;
• The topic or subject matter is European in nature, or relevance.

For the sake of Prize eligibility, Europe is defined as all 46 Council of Europe countries and Belarus and Russia.

Why these changes? 

At the European Press Prize, we want to recognise, honour, and encourage journalism in its role to serve democracy in Europe. We understand that, in the present day, quality journalism comes in many shapes and forms. By opening up certain Categories to different platforms and formats and adapting our eligibility criteria, we hope to ensure that we never exclude any quality journalism from our judging process.

As well as this, we see the European Press Prize Community — consisting of Laureates, our Board and Juries, partners, and friends — as an invaluable network of like-minded professionals with a shared belief in the power of quality journalism. By leaving no stone unturned in our efforts to encourage applications from journalists of all sorts, we give ourselves the best chance of growing that Community and fostering diverse connections across the industry.

Full eligibility criteria and submission requirements for this year’s European Press Prize can be found here.

Click here to submit your work!