Brussels, 01/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The winners of the 2011 European journalism prize in the field of health were awarded their prizes on 31 January. This competition aims to present and reward the work of journalists from throughout the EU seeking to raise public awareness of major healthcare issues with an impact on the lives of all European citizens. The prizes were awarded in recognition of the authors of the four best articles, which were chosen from among 500 papers written by journalists from the 27 member states. The main theme of the competition was the “Europe for patients” campaign, which covers a broad range of issues related to the health and safety of patients. This year, the competition also included a special prize for articles on giving up smoking. The four articles selected were about: (1) resistance to antibiotics (written by two British journalists, Ben Hirschler and Kate Kelland); (2) the importance of physical activity in the fight against depression (by Hungarian journalist Rita Makarész); (3) breast cancer (by Mateja Groselj of Slovenia); (4) the harmful effects of tobacco (by Polish journalist Monika Cetera). (IL/transl.fl)