Shortlist 2015

“Sharp, clear and eloquently disgusted, is what Nick Cohen’s series of columns examining “The cowardice of Nigel Farage” (and the cowardice of a British media establishment giving him a soft ride) published in The Observer is. The enjoyed Cohen’s zest, rhetoric and clear determination to tackle his targets straight on. This is opinion writing in a classic tradition.”

“A superb piece of evocative writing, twisting and turning with literary skill as it follows the efforts of a Russian woman to find the body of her soldier husband, killed in action in the Ukraine but buried by bureaucratic silence in Russia. Kostyuchenko’s account is more than skilled writing, though; it is also individual reporting of the finest quality, showing readers both inside and outside Russia how deeply Vladimir Putin’s government is involved in the Eastern Ukraine.”

“An ambitious exercise in data journalism collecting, collating and publishing the grim details of immigrant deaths as they flee to Middle East or North ‘Africa for a new life in Europe. Year after year, as boats sink or lorries overturn, hundreds of poor and desperate migrants die in their quest for a better life in Europe, the judges said. But, because the full extent and horror of the problem is not reliably reported, the tragedies simply go on. The Migrants’ Files begins to fill that gap. It is painstaking and necessary work, full of detail that challenges our humanity.”

“A lonely and courageous story which shows how Colombian army officers kidnapped and murdered ordinary civilian boys, dressed them in guerrilla clothes - and then claimed reward bounty for the bodies of supposed terrorists killed. Izagirre’s work is compelling, splendidly organized and devastating at a human level. It told a terrible story that no-one who read it could forget.”

“Each year the judges have to right to single out journalism of particular distinction. This year, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, they think it right to honour the work of journalists in those parts of Europe where digging out hidden facts, exposing the crooks of big business and politics, can put reporters, their papers and their websites at risk. Bravery does not define journalism. Professionalism and stamina count for just as much, or more. But the scale of investigative ambition demonstrated in this year’s entries, and the sheer, dogged determination to speak truth to power, brings great credit in train. As one way of saluting this journalism, it is right now to reward the prodigious support and co-ordination work of the non-profit Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project linking national investigative centers and individual newsrooms across Eastern Europe and beyond. It is a memorably motivated, determined force for good everywhere it operates. Its members do not get rich, but the societies they serve are richer and cleaner for the scrutiny only true, independent journalism can provide.”