The EU Integration Office and the EU delegation to Serbia, with the support of Erste Bank, presented the awards for the best media coverage of Serbia’s EU integration in the period January 1–November 1, 2009.
The EU Integration Office says that the awards were presented in five categories, noting that BETA agency reporter Mirjana Pantic received the award for the best press release in a print media and NTV reporter Nebojsa Velickovic the award for best local media coverage.
Awards were given to reporter Ivan Jovanovic from Radio Belgrade for the best radio coverage, Aleksandra Krstic from the Mreza production group for the best television coverage and Aranka Molnar from Radio Zrenjanin for the best coverage of SMEs.
The awards will be presented on January 15 in Belgrade and the winning journalists will stay in Brussels and Strasbourg from January 26 to 31, where they will meet with their colleagues from abroad and try to establish and improve cooperation.
The awarded reports primarily deal with subjects that rarely make it to the headlines, even in the electronic media.
Mirjana Pantic looked at how small family businesses deal with the introduction of EU standards and certificates, while Nebojsa Velickovic’s coverage dealt with the local ombudsman in Nis and his role in the development of local self-government and the protection of citizens’ rights.
Ivan Jovanovic looked into the certificates for Serbian agricultural products required for the EU market, as well as the quality of food from domestic producers.
Aranka Molnar’s report deals with Greenfield investments as incentives for local development and employment and was the only coverage written in a language national minority.