Brussels, 04/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 2 May in Brussels, Vladimir Špidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities awarded the first prize of the EU Journalist "For Diversity - Against Discrimination” Award to journalists for their investigation into racial discrimination in the labour market.
The prize was won by a group of four journalists from France: Pascale-Marie Deschamps, Michel Derenbourg, Claire Aubé and Lionel Steinmann for their article "Raciste, l'entreprise?” published in Enjeux Les Echos and which takes a frank look at racial discrimination in the workplace. Journalist and Vice President of the International Press Association, Shada Islam presented the prizes and explained, “This article tackles the question of racial discrimination in a French company. The jury thought the prize winners courageous because the article was published in a magazine aimed at the business community and decided to award the first prize to the team for the editorial quality and research”.
The second prize went to the Danish article “Bidragerne - Integrationsavisen” (The Integration Paper - The Contributors) by Orla Borg in the daily newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, which particularly stands out for its straightforward and practical approach to complex and controversial issues. Joachim-Fritz Vannamen, Die Zeit correspondent on EU affairs in Brussels said that the article provided statistics but also personal insight, marvellously illustrating how minorities positively contributed to Danish society and how this society was affected by discrimination.
The third prize was awarded to Hungarian journalist Zita Kempf for his article, “Befogadó nemzet” (The Inclusive Nation) in the magazine Magyar Narancs. It was nominated for its very clear portrayal of the national anti-discrimination law in the Hungarian society. MEP Claude Moraes (British Labour Party) explained that the jury thought the journalist's portrayal very courageous in revealing discriminatory employment practices, notably towards the Roma in Hungary.
The competition is part of an information campaign launched in June 2003 by the EU over a five year period and aims to fight against discrimination in the workplace. The three winning articles were selected from 250 contributions from the 25 Member States. They were judged on their informative value, relevance, research, originality of subject and interest to the wider public. The prize consists of a holiday to an EU country of the prize-winners' choice, which will include a special journalistic activities programme.
Vladimir Špidla informed the press during the prize winning ceremony that, “This competition helps to ensure that employers and workers are aware of their rights and of the legislation. We want to wider public to be aware of the advantages of diversity in the employment sector”. The Commissioner added that the media was at the centre of the fight against discrimination and was best placed to determine the groups that constituted current society, “the Commission is convinced that information is central in the fight against discrimination”. He also announced a new EU initiative of the European Year of Equal Opportunities in 2007.