This Thursday: the first ceremony of The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism

On the fourth anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, the European Parliament will be honouring the Maltese journalist by hosting the first award ceremony of The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism. This will be the first award and it will be given during a ceremony at the Press Room in the European Parliament in Brussels, on Thursday 14th October 2021 at noon.

The ceremony will be held in a hybrid setup, due to COVID-19 restrictions, and it will be addressed by the European Parliament’s President David Maria Sassoli. The winner will be chosen by an independent jury which does not have any links to politicians and the winner will be awarded a monetary prize and a memento token.

Maltese Member of the European Parliament, David Casa, spearheaded the establishment of this prize, through his role within the European Parliament’s Bureau’s Working Group on Information and Communication Policy. He will attend Thursday’s ceremony together with members of the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“For me, through this new prize, the European Parliament is sending out two strong messages. The first message is addressed to the Maltese and Gozitan people: the European Parliament is on your side, and wants justice for all those cases revealed by Daphne. The second message is addressed to all the journalists across Europe: the European Parliament values journalism which is indispensable for our democracies. We will stand with journalists, champion media freedom and combat the culture of impunity that allows for journalists to be targeted by those they expose. This is also my mission as a Maltese and Gozitan elected representative,” MEP Casa said.

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism will be awarded annually, on a day close to the 16th of October, the day on which Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered.