The Award for Development Journalism

At its best, journalism helps us understand the world and its complex phenomena. The Award for Development Journalism is awarded annually in January. Use the form at the bottom of the page to nominate a winner.

The Finnish Red Cross, Vikes, Helsingin Sanomat Foundation and the Union of Journalists in Finland have established the award to highlight high-quality and innovative journalistic publications on global issues and to increase the visibility and appreciation of Finnish development journalism.

Candidates must be published in media that are committed to the journalist’s guidelines and are members of the Council of Mass Media in Finland, and whose target audience is in Finland. The content must have been published in Finnish, Swedish, Sami or English.

A cash prize of €3 000 will be awarded to the winner, and honourable mentions may be given out. The prize is taxable income for the recipient.

The call for candidates is now open, and will run until 30 November.

In 2023, the theme will be positive development. Award-winning journalism can cover progress in a wide range of interpretations, from innovation to human rights, or from the economic development of nations to the resilient survival of small communities.

The winner will be chosen by an independent jury, including:

• Hannu Kivimäki, University of Tampere
• Jenny Matikainen, Finnish Broadcasting Corporation
• Päivi Nikkilä, Learning together network
• Katriina Pajari, Helsingin Sanomat
• Matti Ylönen, University of Helsinki

Development journalism is defined as content that addresses global sustainable development issues in a high-quality way, transforms public opinions and attitudes, and offers new perspectives on the realities of developing countries. Innovative forms of journalism from all areas of journalism are particularly encouraged. Books are excluded from the competition.