On 3 May, the World Press Freedom Day, the European Parliament officially launched again the call for submissions for entries to the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism. The Prize rewards on a yearly basis outstanding journalism that promotes or defends the core principles and values of the European Union such as human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights.

The Prize is open to professional journalists and teams of professional journalists of any nationality to submit in-depth pieces that have been published or broadcast by media based in one of the 27 European Union member states. The aim is to support and highlight the importance of professional journalism in safeguarding freedom, and equality.

An independent jury composed of representatives of the press and civil society from the 27 European member states and representatives of the main European Associations of Journalism will choose the winning entry.

The awards ceremony will take place each year around 16 October, the date Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated. The prize and the €20 000 prize money demonstrates the European Parliament’s strong support for investigative journalism and the importance of free press. Over the last few years, Parliament has warned about attempts both in the EU and beyond to undermine media pluralism.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese writer, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, reporting on government corruption,allegations of money laundering and organized crime. She was killed in a car bomb explosion on 16 October 2017.