Investigative stories reporting on societal issues related to abuse of power and fundamental rights, corruption and organised crime in Macedonia in 2016 can now be nominated for the third contest for the EU Award for Investigative Journalism.

The award is established by the European Commission, following the EU Enlargement strategy which recognizes strong need for ensuring freedom of expression in the media, and for support to investigative journalism to monitor the reform processes.

The EU award for investigative journalism aims at celebrating and promoting outstanding achievements of investigative journalists and improving the visibility of quality investigative Western Balkans and Turkey.

The contest includes a sub-category for the best story by young investigative journalist, thus aiming at promoting a young generation of investigative journalists.

The award is given once a year in the Western Balkans countries and Turkey.  The annual award fund for each country is 10,000. From one to three investigative stories will be awarded with individual prizes between 3000 and 5000 euros.

The award is administered by the regional partnership of civil society organisations, coordinated by the Peace Institute in Ljubljana, while the Macedonian Institute for Media will coordinate all the activities related to the contest in Macedonia.

The deadline for submission of entries is 7 April 2017.

The full instructions for submission of nominations and entry forms are available on the following Internet site: www.mim.org.mk/eunagrada