The Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon and the Samir Kassir Foundation announced the results of the 18^th edition of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, in a ceremony held in Beirut.

This Award, established and funded by the European Union, is widely recognized internationally as a flagship prize for press freedom and the most prestigious journalism award in the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region. Since 2006, the Award ceremony has been held annually to commemorate the anniversary of Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir’s assassination, on 2 June 2005 in Beirut, and celebrate his life, his values, and his memory.

The civic space in the region continues to shrink, with many journalists facing threats of arbitrary detention and politicized legal actions. These developments are taking place amid global concerns around information manipulation and the role of the media in providing accurate and reliable information to the public. The Samir Kassir Award reaffirms the European Union’s commitment to supporting independent, in-depth journalism as a fundamental contribution to transparency and accountability. This Award rewards journalists who have distinguished themselves through the quality of their work and their commitment to human rights and democracy.

This year, 242 journalists participated in the competition from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. 81 candidates competed in the Opinion Piece category, 110 in the Investigative Article category, and 54 in the Audiovisual News Report category. The winner in each of the three categories is awarded a prize of €10,000. Each of the short-listed finalists per category receive a €1,000 prize.

For the fourth time, the Award included the Students’ Prize, which allowed 18 students from Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen to get advanced access to the finalists’ submissions, interact virtually with them, and debate the issues that were highlighted in the articles and reports.