Brussels, 16/04/2007 (Agence Europe) -At a prize ceremony in Brussels on Monday 16 April, European Commissioner for Equal Opportunities Vladimír Špidla awarded the 2006 European prize winners for journalism and honoured the journalists whose work contributes to a better understanding of diversity and discrimination.
Prizes are awarded as part the five yearly European information campaign, “For Diversity, Against Discrimination”. The competition is in its third consecutive year. 568 articles were short listed. The winners are as follows: 1) first prize (a trip worth €4500) - Fabrizio Gatti (Italy) for his article "I was a slave in Puglia", published in "L'Espresso” magazine; 2) second prize (a trip worth €3000) - Miklós Hargitai (Hungary) for his article “Our very own gypsy daughter”, published by Népszabadság Online; 3) third prize (a trip worth €2000) - Petra Sjouwerman (Belgium, correspondent in Scandinavia) for her article “Company recruits autistic people only”, published in De Morgen newspaper. The special Young Journalism award (a trip worth €2500) for candidates under 29, went to Finland's Henna Helne (28) for her article “Mothers learning their children's language”, published in Anna magazine.
The 2007 edition of the EU Journalist Award was launched in February for articles published in any of the 27 member states between 1 January and 30 September 2007. Info: (http://www.stop-discrimination.info ). (gb)