Four works awarded Zurich Journalism Prize
On Tuesday, the Zurich Journalism Prize was awarded for the 43rd time. The jury of the Zurich Journalism Prize awarded the prize for lifetime achievement to Peter Haffner. A team of authors and three journalists were also honored.
Whether the Journalism Prize will continue to be based on classic journalism or whether we will no longer be able to know whether an award-winning text was written by a computer or by a human being was the topic of Andrea Masüger, the President of the Foundation Board of the Zurich Journalism Prize, in his welcoming address on Tuesday evening.
Quite a few experts would predict a fundamental change in journalism due to AI and programs like ChatGPT. This development and the increasing difficulty of identifying the origin of texts should not be underestimated. Masüger is convinced that copyright regulations, such as a strong ancillary copyright, are necessary to force tech platforms to give the authors of texts a share of their profits, and that good journalism will be needed for a long time to come.
For Andrea Masüger, this was his last Zurich Journalism Award as president of the foundation board. He is stepping down at his own request at the end of June. He will be succeeded as foundation president by Hannes Britschgi.
Also stepping down is jury member Stefan von Bergen, who had been a member of the panel since 2017. Succession planning for the leadership and membership of the expert jury is underway.
Award for complete works to Peter Haffner
This year, the Zurich Journalism Award presented its lifetime achievement award to Peter Haffner. A journalist and writer, an observer who has traveled to all corners of the globe and whose texts have been causing a stir in various domestic and foreign titles for decades. There is nothing rushed, half-finished or artificially excited in Haffner's texts. Instead, they combine the watchmaker's care with the artist's imagination, said Manfred Papst in his laudation of the 70-year-old prize winner.
Four works awarded
226 works from all over German-speaking Switzerland were submitted for the 2023 Journalism Prize. From these, the seven-member jury of journalists and publicists nominated nine stories for the Zurich Journalism Prize and three for the Newcomer Prize, and has now awarded prizes to four works.
Adrienne Fichter and Ivan Ruslyannikov from the Republic were honored for their research on Russian tech company Yandex. Janique Weder from the New Zurich Newspaper received a prize for her text about a pair of Swiss pensioners in the clutches of the Mafia. Sarah Serafini was awarded a prize for her Watson published chronicle of a femicide, and the final prize went to Matthias Venetz for his work published in the Valaisan messenger published reportage about the consequences of a devastating bus accident.
The Zurich Journalism Prize has been awarded by a jury of experts since 1981. Prizes are awarded for complete works as well as works from print and online media. Each of the main prizes is endowed with 10,000 Swiss francs, and the Newcomer Prize, created in 2018, with 5,000 Swiss francs.
The foundation's sponsors are the four media houses CH Media, NZZ, Ringier and Tamedia. In addition, companies and institutions support the event with monetary contributions.
