Awards for Best Reporting on Corruption in BiH Presented

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Svjetlana Šurlan, a journalist from the Capital.ba portal, and journalists from the Center for Investigative Journalism are the recipients of this year's award for investigative articles on corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina, presented by the Anti-Corruption Network ACCOUNT.

Šurlan received the award in the category of best written report for her articles concerning the construction of the Banja Luka – Prijedor highway. This series of articles proved the unprofitability of building that highway, revealed that the Chinese company did not pay the concession fee on time, and that the founding capital of the company that was supposed to build the highway was only one KM. The highway construction was eventually postponed.

“This topic still requires investigation, and awards like this encourage us not to give up on asking questions about topics of public interest,” Šurlan said.

The Center for Investigative Journalism received the award in the category of best multimedia reporting, for their work on the financing of veteran organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Wherever we look, there is corruption,” said CIN journalist Renata Radić-Dragić, a member of the CIN team that investigated this topic.

The award for special contribution to investigative journalism in the past year was given to Žurnal magazine journalist Avdo Avdić.

ACCOUNT Director Eldin Karić stated that ACCOUNT has been presenting awards for seven years, with the aim of raising investigative journalism, especially in the area of corruption, to a higher level.

“I think we have succeeded in that. The quality and content of investigative articles are at a much higher level than before,” Karić said.

The jury for this year's ACCOUNT awards consisted of renowned Croatian journalist Saša Leković, editor-in-chief of the Tacno.net portal Štefica Galić, Borka Rudić from the BH Journalists Association, Žana Gauk, journalist for the online magazine Žurnal, and Armin Aljović, editor at the Patria News Agency.

In addition to the presentation of journalistic awards at the Sarajevo restaurant “Una,” the 10th anniversary of Žurnal magazine was also celebrated.