N1’s Djenana Kaminic won the “Srdjan Aleksic” award for professional reporting. A total of 19 journalists applied for the competition, with two applications coming from non-governmental organisations.
This year, the four-member jury decided to award the first prize to N1’s Djenana Kaminic, the second prize went to Maja Nikolic from the Radio Free Europe, while the third prize was given to Mirela Hukovic-Hodzic from BH Radio 1.
The journalist award “Srdjan Aleksic” is given away, under the USAID-s PRO-Future project, for continuous professional reporting on marginalised and vulnerable within the Bosnia society as well as for the development of socially responsible journalism.
According to the jury's elaboration, N1’s Djenana Kaminic has continuously monitored and reported on the lives of ordinary people, searching for positive examples of coexistence, especially in the politically divided city of Mostar and Herzegovina (southern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
“With her segments, Kaminic promotes humanity and reminds the viewers that coexistence is not only possible but that we are already living in coexistence. Her stories are often an inspiration to other media to deal with the same or similar topics,” the jury said.
For the second time in a row, journalist Maja Nikolic won the “Srdjan Aleksic” award with an explanation from the jury that her stories about minority, marginalised and vulnerable groups of the society are socially responsible and that she continuously finds people who prove that differences are not an obstacle, but treasure.
BH Radio 1’s Mirela Hukovic-Hodzic was awarded for her stories about present-day Srebrenica (where genocide took place during the Bosnian war, 1992-1995), which she presents through the eyes of youth who openly and emotionally speak about overcoming every-day hurdles in order to build themselves a better future in this town.
The award was given away by the Network for Building Peace with the support of USAID’s PRO-Future project, implemented by the Catholic Relief Services with partners. This award has been supported by the PRO-Future project for the past four years.
The award is named after a young Bosnian Serb Srdjan Aleksic who saw his neighbour, an ethnic Bosniak, being harassed by a group of Bosnian Serb soldiers at the beginning of the 1992-95 war. He tried to protect the man but the soldiers then turned against Aleksic, beating him with their rifle butts until he fell into a coma. Aleksic died a week later at the hospital.
