The prize is awarded in the Western Balkans region (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia) and Turkey. Aside from the national recognitions, the competition will again award the best regional stories.

The prize fund for national and regional awards amounts to 10,000 euros. In each country, the three best stories of the year are awarded, and the national and regional prizes are 5,000 (for first place), 3,000 (for second), and 2,000 (for third) euros.

Each candidate can nominate their work for a national and/or regional award, and the maximum number of applications per candidate is three. The jury members of the national competition have the exclusive right to propose stories they consider relevant for the regional contest, even if the story was not initially nominated for that level of the contest. In this case, the organisers will ask author’s for permission to participate in the regional competition.

The organiser of the award is, once again, Thomson Media, an organisation with decades of experience in media development and the promotion of media freedom on a global level.

The deadline for submitting applications is 16 June 2025, until midnight CET and all those interested can find out more details and apply for the project at the link: https://euwbmedia.com/2025/04/call-for-entries-eu-award-for-investigative-journalism-2025-now-open/

The project is financed by the European Union. It is implemented by a consortium consisting of the Balkan Research Network - BIRN Hub, Central European University (CEU) - Hungary, Association of Journalists (AJ) - Turkey, Thomson Media (TM) - Germany, Goce Delčev Stip University (UGD) - North Macedonia, Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) - North Macedonia, Media Association of Southeast Europe (MASE) - Montenegro and Balkan Research Network Kosovo (BIRN Kosovo).

If you have any questions, you can reach Thomson Media at euawardkos@thomsonmedia.de.