Winners of the III International Award "Honest View" Announced in Moscow
the award: 'Honest View,'" said Evgeny Primakov, head of Rossotrudnichestvo, welcoming the participants of the award ceremony. "We all understand that Russia is currently under a fierce information attack. An information war is underway, and there are many things said about Russia. I am very glad to welcome our foreign guests who have come here to Moscow, to Russia. Today, it also takes brave people to do this – it’s an act for which you may face some consequences. But a journalist who is not brave is not a journalist. And today we honor brave people with an honest view."
The "Honest View" media award is being held for the third time. Each year, interest from foreign journalists and bloggers grows, as there is a demand for objective information about Russia, its international activities, and projects abroad. In 2024, the award gathered a record number of applications over its three years – 488 competitive materials from 59 countries around the world, including Argentina, Germany, Israel, India, Iran, Canada, China, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, 19 African countries, and all CIS countries. Journalists and bloggers from all continents competed for the award.
The Grand Prix of the III International Media Award "Honest View" was awarded to Greek international journalist Dimitrios Lyatsos – host of a talk show and author of the media project "Ideohoros," who shares his understanding of political processes with his audience based on 30 years of experience living and working in Russia.
"This award recognizes the quality work of our entire team," noted Dimitrios Lyatsos. "We launched our YouTube channel in 2022. In two and a half years, our broadcasts have been viewed by 14 million Greek speakers worldwide. These are people interested in what is happening in Russia, but most importantly – why Russia will win. And we have an answer to that question: because behind Russia is the truth."
The winner of the most popular nomination "Best Material on International Cultural Partnership with Russia" – which received 159 applications – was Tigran Kocharyan, editor-in-chief of Alpha Media House, a media expert and specialist in new media from Armenia.
2nd place went to street artist Osmani Gwigme, known for his popular graffiti in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, a Pan-Africanist, activist, and blogger. 3rd place in this nomination was shared by Silvana Yarmolyuk-Stroganova, representative of Radio Pax Russika in Argentina, and Olga Shishanova from the Kazakhstani socio-political publication "New Generation."
132 authors competed for victory in the nomination "Best Material on Social and Humanitarian Topics." 1st place was awarded to Oksana Malosabirova from the Uzbek news agency Podrobno.uz; 2nd place went to Ermek Aktanov, correspondent for the National Radio and Television Corporation of Kyrgyzstan Birinchi Radio; and 3rd place went to Alisher Akhunov from the information agency SugdNews in Tajikistan.
The winner of the nomination "Best Material in the Genre of Journalism and Documentary" was Alexey Stefanov from Latvia, the author of the social media project "Sprats in Exile." 2nd place was awarded to Serbian chef, gastro-blogger, and rap artist Milan Jankovic. 3rd place was shared by Turkish journalist, writer, political scientist, and expert on Russian-Turkish relations Arif Asalioğlu and Svetlana Karulskaya, a correspondent for "Second National TV Channel (National Television of Belarus) in the Russian Federation." A total of 103 competitive materials were submitted for this nomination.
This year's innovation was a Special Nomination from the competition partner. The winners were selected by the Jury in collaboration with the award partner – the RussiaToday agency. The prize places in this nomination were distributed among representatives of the Ruptly agency in different countries:
1st place - Victoria Maksoyeva (Armenia); 2nd place - Marlis Myrzakul uulu (Kyrgyzstan); 3rd place - Vitaly Lavrentik (Belarus).
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Another innovation for 2024 – the nomination for Best Material by Young Journalists about the Russian Federation – attracted 54 young and aspiring journalists aged 18 to 25. The winner was reporter Fersi Noir from The New Daily Messenger in Tunisia. Farida Abbasova, a correspondent for the oldest Russian-language newspaper in Azerbaijan, "Baku Worker," took 2nd place. Young rapper, MC, actor, and musician from Ghana, Isaac Kalem Kobbinah, won 3rd place in the youth nomination and put on a spontaneous rap performance for the guests at the ceremony, energizing the room with joyful energy and festive spirit.
After awarding the main nominations, the Organizing Committee of the award announced two special prizes.
The special prize "Cock and bull story" – for materials containing the most outrageous fabrications, distortions of facts, false stereotypes, and absurd inventions about Russia – was awarded to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and talk show Joe Morning on MSNBC TV channel.
The special prize "For Objectivity" went to Bloomberg News Agency – for principled adherence to journalistic standards and impartiality in covering current news topics.
Unlike the winners of the main nominations, who received cash prizes and gifts, the holders of the special prizes of the media award "Honest View" receive an invitation from Rossotrudnichestvo to visit the country: "If they are willing to come and see for themselves what is happening here, we are ready to show them everything," said Anton Chermensky, head of the Information Policy Department of Rossotrudnichestvo.
For Reference
The media award "Honest View" is being held for the third year and has already become a platform for uniting journalists and bloggers from around the world. In 2022, 118 journalists from 28 countries participated in the award. The winners of the competition were participants from Uzbekistan, Montenegro, Tajikistan, Belarus, and Iran.
In 2023, the geography of the award expanded, and the number of participants doubled: 250 works were submitted from 51 countries.
The 2024 award gathered a record number of submissions over all three years of its existence – 488 competitive materials from 59 countries around the world, including Argentina, Germany, Israel, India, Iran, Canada, China, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, 19 African countries, and all CIS countries.
The organizer of the award and media school is the Federal Agency for Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). The operator of the competition and media school is the Communication Agency AGT.