Republishing: Pushing journalism beyond the language barriers

One of the biggest challenges for European journalists is probably language. Important pieces of journalism are published throughout the continent, but they often can’t transcend a single state’s borders, because a change of landscape, in Europe, often means a change of language.

That is why, at the European Press Prize, we rely on – and encourage – republishing.

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Quality journalism speaks every language

Sometimes the European Press Prize is compared to the Pulitzer Prize. By this comparison, we are deeply flattered, because it tells us we are doing our job well, in growing a respected organization that stands for excellence in the field of journalism.

But there is one fundamental difference between us and the Pulitzer: we deal with hundreds of submissions from 48 countries (the whole Council of Europe, with the addition of Russia and Belarus) and the pieces we receive are more often than not written, rather than in English, in one of the European languages. This makes sense, because journalism is a fundamental service to a population, and it will be written in the main language spoken in a specific country.

So, we translate all the entries that are longlisted into English.

This is necessary first of all for our Preparatory Committee to be able to evaluate them, and pass them to our Panel of Judges for a final decision.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the shortlisted pieces, our Nominees, are then published on our website in English, to maximize their reach, extending their influence beyond borders and contributing to showing Europe for what it truly is: a union made by its stories.

But is this enough, to provide new audiences for these articles?

Republishing steps up the game

There is one thing that is better than our blog and our website’s space, to host the dwell of feature articles, investigations, and opinion pieces we select every year: highly reputable print or digital publications.

The power of republishing an article, maybe written in Polish, Hungarian or Portugiese, into a French, Spanish, or Croatian newspaper, is truly magical. How many stories, investigations, and interviews, can resonate with readers that live thousands of kilometers from where they were originally written!

Whereas being born locally, many of the articles we award can easily become relevant in other European countries.

Many of the stories we select and award have a truly international vocation and it is easy to imagine that they can trascend borders and become an interesting read for different European audiences. Articles about corruption, investigations into scandals, and opinion pieces about climate or human rights, when translated and republished, can be relevant to new audiences. They can, first of all, help readers better understand the Europe they live in, and secondly, they can show them how different but similar, distinct and yet related, all the European cultures are.

Republished versions of our 2023 Nominees and Winners

Visit our European Press Review for the list of articles that were republished in other European media outlets.

Our first Community Event in Athens with iMEdD

The European Press Prize family will come together again, this year, after having met at the Prize Award Ceremony in Madrid. On October 9, we will launch our first Community Event, organised together with, and hosted by, our member iMEdD – Incubator for Media Education and Development. The event will mark the final day of iMEdD’s 5-Day Forum “International Journalism Week: A Matter of Trust.”

The aim of this event is to bring together all our stakeholders, for a day of discussions and networking moments that will revolve around one single, important topic: European journalism.

An ever-expanding journalists Community

The size of the European Press Prize Community naturally increases with every new Award season. From the hundreds of submissions we receive per year, 20 projects are shortlisted for the different categories of the Prize.

As the Prize was born 10 years ago, this brings the count of Laureates to around 200 teams, often composed of many journalists.

To the count of the participants, board members, Judges, PrepCom, and partners need to be added. This means that the European Press Prize Community now includes a large wealth of professionals from everywhere in Europe and beyond.

Harnessing the power of the Community

With all the different backgrounds and the knowledge that comes with them, the Prize Community can be a powerful source of ideas that can have an impact both within the Community and outside of it.

At the Community Event, our Laureates and other Community members will have a chance to meet and talk about their current projects, and what could be done next. They will design future collaborations together, network, and share knowledge, ultimately continuing to cultivate excellence in European journalism.

The impact of the Community Event will extend beyond the limits of the European Press Prize Community, because the ideas and projects that will be born in Athens will be developed in different European countries and then made available to different audiences.

The first Community Event

The Community Event will hopefully become a recurring event, coming to play an essential role in the growth of the European Press Prize and its partners.

This first edition is made possible by our member iMEdD, which will host us during the International Journalism Week.

Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou, iMEdD Managing Director, Journalist: “We strongly believe collaboration is the only way forward to everything, not least overcoming the Matter of Trust journalism is experiencing. In this vein, we are proud to host the first-ever European Press Prize Community Event, a coming together of professionals sharing common values and telling stories that can create real impact.”

While the first part of the Community Event’s programme will only be dedicated to our invitees, the second part will be open to all International Journalism Week’s participants. The collaborative spirit of the event and of our Community will also be reflected in the plan of the day, as the participants will be given a chance to substantiate part of the programme.