How the European Commission sees the European Young Journalists Award
Gisela Gauggel-Robinson
Six months after launching the website of the award, filling it with articles from young journalists, advertising the award all over Europe to youth media makers and their networks and preparing the winners’ trip with their partners, Gisela Gauggel-Robinson, Head of the Communication Unit from the DG Enlargement, feels happy: „We started drafting the idea last summer and now the event finally took place. It was great to attend the winners’ trip and listen to the participants at the final conference. We need the comments of these young journalists, because we are very often lacking such examples from everyday life.“
„The winners are only the tip of the iceberg. They were chosen out of 400 applications and got the opportunity to see a potential candidate country, one candidate country and a member country. I hope they used this opporÂtunity to gather ideas for articles in their media and to network with the other winners.“, says Gauggel-RoÂbinson. She urged the young winners to investigate and always look for all the layers of reality – especially in the future of Europe, which needs good journalists to be shaped.
And the European Commission plans to realize the award together with its partners again next year. This time around, they would like to dedicate it to the 20th anniversary of the „fall of the iron curtain“ and the fifth anniversary of the EU enlargement to ten new member countries. Gauggel-Robinson theÂrefore welcomes ideas to improve the award from all participants and the coordinators involved, but also from experienced journalists for the second edition of the „European Young Journalist Award“.
By: Björn Richter
