The European Parliament has officially launched the Daphne Caruana Galizia journalism prize, a prize awarded to exceptional journalism that reflects the values of the European Union.
According to the European Parliament’s website, the €20,000 prize will be awarded annually as of October 2021 to a journalist or a journalist team that is based in the EU.
Candidates and the eventual winner will be selected by an independent panel.
Parliament Vice-President Heidi Hautala said that the prize will “recognise the essential role that journalists play in preserving our democracies and serve as a reminder to citizens of the importance of a free press”.
The prize will also illustrate that the vital work which journalists do, which sometimes verge on the dangerous, is supported by the EU.
While the prize will be awarded in October of this year, the prize was initially launched on 16th October 2020, on the third anniversary of Caruana Galizia’s death.
Maltese Member of the European Parliament David Casa, who as Quaestor, worked on this initiative within the Bureau’s Working Group on Communication and Information Policy, expressed his satisfaction that The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize is now a reality. “I look forward to the first award ceremony this October. The European Parliament is sending out a strong message to all journalists: you are not alone, and you will not be left alone. We want you to continue your investigations, reveal the truth and make public what others want to keep hidden.”
Members of the European Parliament recently voted in favour of a resolution calling for justice in the Daphne Caruana Galizia case and related investigations. All allegations of corruption and fraud in Malta, the resolution stated, should be investigated at the appropriate level, especially when the incident is at high political level.