The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), a partner in the IJ4EU fund, has unveiled the identities of jury members presiding over the second annual IJ4EU Impact Award.

The jury met this month to choose three winners from a shortlist of investigations nominated for Europe’s only award devoted to cross-border investigative journalism. Winners will be announced on March 31. 

The award ceremony will take place during IJ4EU UNCOVERED, a conference organised by ECPMF in partnership with the International Press Institute and the European Journalism Centre, the two other members in the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) consortium.

IJ4EU’s third UNCOVERED conference brings together journalists, funders, policymakers and civil society members to discuss the challenges and opportunities for collaborative watchdog journalism at a time of upheaval.

Get your free ticket to attend the hybrid event on March 31 and April 1.

Here are the members of the IJ4EU Impact Award 2022 jury.

Attila Mong is a Hungarian freelance journalist based in Berlin. Working as the Europe representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Mong is also an innovation consultant for the DW Akademie and a board member for Hungarian investigative journalism outlet, Átlátszó. He was John S. Knight Journalism fellow (2013) and Hoover Institution research fellow (2011) at Stanford University. He is the author of several books and recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Memorial Prize for Best Investigative Journalism and the 2003 Soma Investigative Journalism Prize.


Silvia Chocarro is the Head of Protection at ARTICLE 19, a global organisation promoting freedom of expression worldwide. She sits on the IFEX Council and is a member of the Centre for Freedom of Media, University of Sheffield. In her 20-year career, she worked for media development groups and intergovernmental organisations as well as a journalist for media outlets. She holds a PhD in Journalism from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; her dissertation focused on the role of the UN in journalists’ safety. She is the author of several reports on the safety of journalists and gender and media.


Boryana Dzhambazova is a freelance journalist, based in Sofia, Bulgaria. She has been reporting on a wide range of topics – from economic and political developments to social affairs and human rights issues. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Economist, and Politico Europe, among others.


Can Dündar has been working as a journalist for more than 40 years, for several newspapers and magazines. He produced many TV documentaries focusing particularly on modern Turkish history and cultural anthropology. He worked as an anchorman for several news channels. He stepped down from his post as the editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet in August 2016, after he was imprisoned due to his story on the Turkish Intelligence Service’s involvement in the Syrian war. He was sentenced in absentia to 27 years in jail in December 2020. He found #ÖZGÜRÜZRadio (WeAreFree) in Berlin in 2016. He’s been a columnist for Die Zeit since August 2016. He has made documentaries for ARTE, ZDF, DW, and written more than 40 books, some of which were published German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Albanian and Chinese.


Julia Vernersson is Managing Director of Hostwriter, an award-winning global network that helps journalists collaborate across borders. She has a background in international organisations working with media, freedom of speech and activism and founded the organisation Kulturlabor Trial & Error. In 2021, Hostwriter launched the feminist cross-border newsroom UnbiastheNews.org, to support journalists experiencing structural barriers in the field, working towards a more equitable and inclusive world of journalism.

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