Our collective poem campaign ‘A line for journalism’
We launched the campaign ‘A line for journalism’, an initiative designed to give the possibility to journalists, activists and freedom of speech supporters everywhere in the world to express themselves freely, creating together a collective poem on journalism.
Good journalism is like poetry. It inspires us, moves us, changes us, and ultimately, its words can set us free. This is why we launched ‘A line for Journalism’, a collective poem initiative on journalism and journalists. The title of the poem will be Running from Silence, because too many media professionals, everywhere in the world, are oppressed by censorship, or forced to flee their country to continue doing their job as they feel it should be done.
Whoever is interested in participating in the campaign, adding one line to the poem or sharing its content, can do that via this link: https://www.europeanpressprize.com/a-line-for-journalism/
The power of collective poetry
Journalism is a collective endeavour. It lives in the work of the professionals who, every day, work to tell stories that must be told; in the struggle of those who strive to give journalists adequate protection; and in the eyes and opinions of its many audiences.
Collective (or collaborative) poetry can represent well what journalism needs to be to stay relevant. Its history goes back many centuries, to when poets collaborated with their contemporaries to refine and enhance their poetic skills. Renaissance poetry in France is marked by ‘virtuoso circles’ wherein many professional writers would collaborate with their contemporaries and engage with their predecessors. In modern times, this art was perfected by the Surrealists, which started creating poems composed of entire lines written by several different poets.
Running from the silence of censorship
The title of this collective poem will be Running from Silence, because too many media professionals, everywhere in the world, are oppressed by censorship, or forced to flee their country to continue doing their job as they feel it should be done.
According to the latest UNESCO report, the numbers on censorship and attacks on journalism are constantly growing. From 2016 to the end of 2021, UNESCO recorded the killings of 455 journalists, who either died for their work or while on the job. At the same time, the imprisonment of journalists has reached record highs. New legal measures undermine, instead of bolster, press freedom. Since 2016, dozens of countries have adopted or amended laws and regulations which threaten freedom of expression and press freedom online.
Emanuele Del Rosso, Head of Communications and PR at the Prize: “Our goal is to free the word of journalists. We want to provide them with an outlet to freely express themselves. Whether they operate from war areas, under a regime, or they are in exile, they can submit anonymously and say what they really think and feel. Their word can be freed, through our collective poem.”
Participate in the initiative
This is a collective poem, for a collaborative project. The European Press Prize welcomes organisations that operate in the fields of press freedom, journalism, education, or public figures that would like to help, or contribute with a line and/or an endorsement of the project.
There is no required fee to participate, and the organisers are open to considering all the different uses that can be made of this poem, and having it shown (in its entirety or some of its parts) in different places at different times.
Contact the Head of Communications and PR Emanuele Del Rosso at [email protected] if you are interested in participating in this campaign.
Our Community Platform: a space to collaborate, network and share knowledge
We are launching a new tool to make our Community grow stronger, in collaboration with our member iMEdD. It is called Community Platform, and it will allow the Press Prize family to collaborate, network and share knowledge.
During our Community Event at iMEdD’s International Journalism Week, last October, we announced a big novelty: soon we would have made available a safe digital space for the Prize Community. A space designed specifically for our Laureates, PrepCom, Judges and Members, providing opportunities to connect and work together.
We worked for several months to design and develop this tool along with iMEdD, as we share a common vision, to grow and strengthen a European community of journalists whose excellent work will always be contributing to the public interest.
Now, we are officially launching it. We called it: Community Platform.
Collaboration is the future of European journalism
When in September 2021, during our Ceremony in Berlin, we asked our Laureates what the future of European journalism is, we kept hearing the same answer: collaboration.
In the same year, in a survey conducted for internal use, we asked journalists who submitted their work why they applied for the Prize and what the Prize can do to help journalism. The answers? “To feel like I am part of a bigger picture,” “Networking with other European journalists,” “Sharing of information about outlets and published articles to network.”
Collaboration, networking and sharing are the answers to our “what” and “how,” at the European Press Prize.
And this was proven again in 2022, at our first Community Event, an opportunity to see our Prize family come together and chart the course.
A dedicated space to always be connected
The Community Platform will be an online space where our Community will be able to build itself. Our platform users will have an easier way to safely connect and get each other’s contacts, to then talk about new collaborations, projects, investigations, to ask questions and share their ideas.
Every year, 20 projects – 25 this year, with the new Migration Journalism Award – get into our Shortlist, and many projects have numerous journalists behind them. After ten years of existence, this means that way more than 200 Laureates have entered our Community.
We will always have meetings in real life – be it at our Ceremony, our Community Event or wherever else we can – but as our Community will keep growing larger, it is time to give it a Platform to grow even stronger.
We do this for all future journalists, because the Prize is more than a simple award, and we believe journalists can shape their profession together.