National juries have been finalised for the pan-European journalist award “Enlarge your vision” that runs until the 31st of May 2009. The competition is open to young European journalists aged 17 to 35 from 35 countries across Europe. Print and online journalists as well as radio professionals are encouraged to reflect and share their views on the European Union and EU enlargement.

With the deadline only few weeks away, the competition invites all young aspiring and established journalists from around Europe to share their vision of the future Europe and submit articles on EU enlargement. In June 2009, national juries made up of leading media professionals and a representative from the European Commission will select one winning article or radio piece from each country.

The Maltese panel of adjudicators comprises Ms Velislava Hillman, editor of the youth publication PHASE; Dr Natalino Fenech, editor and head of News of PBS; and Mr Alex Attard, editor of the daily newspaper In-Nazzjon.

When evaluating the applications, national jury members will look for a touch of journalistic flair to all submitted articles and radio pieces which must focus on issues related to the European Union. The national juries will select the winners according to the relevance of information in relation to the topic, originality of treatment of the subject, journalistic style and quality of writing, ability to catch the reader’s attention and effort made in the preparation of the article.

All national winners of the 2009 European Young Journalist Award will be invited to join a cultural and historical trip to the capital of Germany, Berlin from 29th August to 2nd September 2009. This year, Europe will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the iron curtain symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. At the same time, it will also be the 5th anniversary of the accession to the EU of the eight Central and Eastern European Countries, as well as Malta and Cyprus. A conference with high level politicians and media representatives will be organised to discuss EU enlargement and to congratulate each and every national winner. The winning articles and radio pieces will be published on the competition’s website (www.EUJournalist-award.eu) and the articles will be also published in a booklet.

Overview of competition rules:

The European Young Journalist Award on EU enlargement is open to young print and radio journalists, students or freelancers aged 17 to 35 from the EU member states as well as from Candidate Countries (Croatia, Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and Potential Candidates (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and the province of Kosovo ). Entries should have been published in 2008 or 2009 and written in one of the official EU languages or one of the languages of the Candidate Countries and Potential Candidates. Participants can enter the competition via the website www.EUjournalist-award.eu. The website also provides the complete rules and criteria for participation, as well as articles on the EU’s enlargement policy, interesting tips for a career in journalism and networking in a community of young European journalists.

The competition is organised by the European Commission (DG Enlargement), in cooperation with the European Youth Press association and Cafebabel.com.

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