The International Herald Tribune journalist James Kanter scooped this year’s prize for Reporting Europe at a prestigious ceremony in Canary Wharf, London, on 7 April 2009.
The prize is jointly awarded by UACES and Thomson Reuters. It is judged by a panel of both journalists and academics and is awarded to work which excels in stimulating critical debate on European integration.
Mr Kanter received the award for his piece on the EU’s Emissions Trading System in the International Herald Tribune of 10 December 2008. The jury considered this to be a terrific piece of investigative journalism, which drew on painstaking research to paint a warts-and-all picture of how this flagship EU policy instrument has resulted in massive windfalls for major utilities companies.
Speaking at the ceremony, Sir Stephen Wall, President of UACES, said: ‘James Kanter’s work makes a real contribution to public debate, examining how well-intentioned policy can have unintended consequences’.
Professor Alex Warleigh-Lack, Chair of UACES, said: ‘This article demonstrates how well journalism and academia can work together. All of us are dedicated to critical enquiry, and as a scholar I was impressed by the wealth of research undertaken for this major article’.
SHORT-LISTED Entries for 2009
Hannah FEARN, News and Features writer, Times Higher Education
‘The long and the short of it’. A special report on the Bologna Process
(Times Higher Education: 2 October 2008).
Ahto LOBJAKAS, Brussels Correspondent, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
‘Karadzic in The Hague: A Victory for EU Values’
(Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: 30 July 2008).
James KANTER, Correspondent, International Herald Tribune
‘Polluter’s windfall: From carbon into gold’.
(International Herald Tribune, 10 December 2008).
Catherine MILLER, Reporter, The World Tonight, BBC News
Report on EU Action on corruption in Bulgaria
(The World Tonight, BBC Radio 4: 14 March 2008)
Patrick SMYTH, Foreign Editor, The Irish Times
‘So, what is it we really mean by ‘sovereignty’?’
(The Irish Times: 5 January 2008)
Shirin WHEELER, Presenter, The Record: Europe, BBC Brussels Bureau
The Record: Europe
(BBC Parliament TV: 11 October 2008)
At a prestigious ceremony at the Thomson Reuters Building on Canary Wharf, on 30 April 2008, the inaugural prize for Reporting Europe has been awarded to Allan Little of the BBC for his programme The Road to Rome (BBC Radio 4 and World Service), broadcast on 25 March 2007. The award, offered by UACES – the University Association for Contemporary European Studies, and the world’s leading academic society in the field – and Reuters, with help from the London Press Club, is unique in its combination of academic credibility and media expertise.
Marie-Hélène Von Mach, 'typist' of the drafts of the Treaty of Rome with UACES-Reuters prize winner, Allan Little, outside the "tower" of Château de Val Duchesse where the Treaty was drawn up.
Allan Little’s feature was praised by the judges for its clarity and excellent production values, but especially for its ability to get under the skin of those involved with the early days of the EU back in the 1950s. This produced a programme of great interest and subtlety, challenging Euro-myths from both pro- and anti-EU perspectives while succeeding in making the EU a human interest story.
In his inaugural award ceremony lecture, the Chairman of Reuters, Niall FitzGerald, said: ‘It is a great pleasure to present the UACES-Reuters ‘Reporting Europe’ award. High quality, thought provoking reporting, which this award recognises, has a critical role to play in encouraging constructive debate about Europe.’
Sir Stephen Wall, President of UACES and former UK Ambassador to the EU as well as chief EU advisor to Tony Blair during the latter’s premiership, said: ‘UACES does a fantastic job in pooling expertise on the EU from academics and policy-makers all over the world. I’m delighted to be present at this Inaugural Award Ceremony, and hope it marks the dawn of closer co-operation between academics and journalists in reporting Europe.’
Dr Amelia Hadfield, UACES Media Officer and University of Kent, and Prof Alex Warleigh-Lack, UACES Chair and Brunel University, concurred. Speaking at the ceremony, they hoped that it would be a platform to develop a new partnership between UACES, its members, and the media community. ‘As academics, we depend on the media not just for up-to-date reporting, but increasingly to raise the profile of EU issues with the public – and potential students! We hope that by pooling the impressive expertise of UACES in our free-to-search online directory, we will be able to offer politically neutral help and expertise to journalists in need of a helping hand when stories break or deadlines approach’.
Short-Listed Entries for 2008
From left to right: John Peet (The Economist), Mark Mardell (BBC), Alex Warleigh-Lack (UACES), Allan Little (BBC), Bertrand Benoit (Financial Times) and J Clive Matthews (NoseMonkey Blog)
Bertrand BENOIT, Berlin Bureau Chief, Financial Times
Whose side are they on? Shifting borders are nothing new. After centuries of Franco-German conflict, modern Alsace, and one family on particular - shows that European integration is not an impossible dream. (Financial Times Weekend Magazine: 24 March 2007)
Allan LITTLE, BBC World Affairs Correspondent
The Road to Rome (BBC Radio 4 and World Service) 25 March 2007
Mark MARDELL, BBC Europe Editor
Blog: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell in particular - a fortnight of reporting before, during and after the June 2007 European Council: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2007/06/12/index.html and also www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2007/08/30
J Clive MATTHEWS, Writer, Editor, Online Content Consultant
Blog associated with a deliberative polling experiment run by Tomorrow's Europe http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/dliberation
John PEET, Europe Editor, The Economist
Special report on the European Union to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome: http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8808062