East Switzerland Media Prize is discontinued
At its meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Eastern Switzerland Media Prize decided to discontinue the prize and liquidate the foundation. Despite many efforts, it has not been possible to give the prize a solid financial basis.
The Eastern Switzerland Media Prize was established in 2000 with the aim of recognizing outstanding journalistic achievements from and about Eastern Switzerland. At that time, the media landscape was still diversified and more varied. The increasing concentration of the industry in recent years and the ongoing economic difficulties of the media houses have led to a new situation, which now also has consequences for the Eastern Switzerland Media Prize.
In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to find suitable partners and sponsors for the Eastern Switzerland Media Prize, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. Particularly in view of the current extraordinary situation and a possible subsequent recession, this area of activity will become even more difficult: The search for new sponsors and partners is extremely difficult. Furthermore, despite the efforts of individual media companies, it has not been possible to create a broad-based solution within the industry that would have placed the Media Prize on a solid and sustainable footing.
After weighing up possible alternative scenarios and following in-depth discussions, the Board of Trustees therefore decided to discontinue the Eastern Switzerland Media Prize from 2020 and to liquidate the foundation in accordance with the regulations. Due to the difficult situation, there was no sustainable alternative to discontinuing the prize.
