Brussels, 09/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - At a ceremony in Brussels on 8 April, the winners of the fifth EU Health Prize for Journalists were announced by Health Commissioner Tonio Borg. Out of more than 850 articles entered into the competition, 28 national finalists were chosen by juries in each EU country. From the shortlist of 28 excellent articles, the three winners are: 1st place: Henk Blanken writing in Dagblad van het Noorden (the Netherlands) for his article “Carel's Head”, a story about Parkinson's disease; 2nd place: Christiane Hawranek and Marco Maurer, writing in Die Zeit (Germany) for their article about non-regulated medical care across borders ; and 3rd place: Mette Dahlgaard writing in the Berlingske newspaper about a sperm donor who discovers that he carries the gene for a highly hereditary form of cancer. Borg stated that, “once again, journalists from across Europe have contributed to the public's knowledge and understanding of important health issues... The top three articles that the EU jury had the formidable job to select stood out for their intensity, originality and ability to mesmerise the readers”. The other articles focused on subjects such as Alzheimer's disease, the dangers of sugar, using robots to perform operations, rare diseases and euthanasia. (IL)