The Holme award has been awarded posthumously to Daphne Caruana Galizia by Göteborgs Handels and Sjöfartstidning (Sweden), the family announced today.

The award is presented on the first of December each year to a person who has, at great personal risk, stood up in action for civilised values. The organisation, founded in 1832, is best known for standing up for humanity, dignity, and professional ethos, especially during the Second World War. The Holme Award reflects those values.

"Daphne Caruana Galizia was an outstanding model not only for journalists," said Professor Dennis Töllborg, who owns Göteborgs Handels and Sjöfartstidning. "She was on our list for receiving this year's award long before she was murdered." Daphne Caruana Galizia's husband and sons have accepted the Holme Award in her memory and have decided that the prize money will be donated directly to Dar Merhba Bik in Malta.

Previous winners
The Holme Award was previously been presented to Ara Abrahamian (2008), Lydia Cacho (2009), Julian Assange (2010), Shahira Amin (2011), Yang Zaixin and Su Tianjin (2012), Edward Snowden (2013), Hennie van Vuuren (2014), Khadija Ismayilova (2015) and Raif Badawi (2016). 

About the Holme Award
The prize consists of a diploma and a symbolic amount of money, 10.000 Swedish Crowns(approximately €975), financed by Professor Dennis Töllborg personally. The annual Holme Award date comemmorates the day Rosa Parks courageously took up the fight for human dignity. The Holme Award is given to a citizen of the world who, through actions risking his or her own career, uphold the collective values that build and keep friendship, families, and countries together. It is named after Holme, the hero of Swedish author Jan Fridegård’s trilogy Land of wooden gods, People of the dawn and Sacrificial smoke.

Photo Jon Borg