16th Aargau/Solothurn Media Prize awarded
The 16th Aargau/Solothurn Media Prize goes to journalist Sarah Jäggi (Die Zeit, Switzerland), photographer Hanspeter Bärtschi (AZ Solothurner Zeitung), radio journalist Céline Raval (Radio 32), and television journalist Christophe Gut (formerly of SRF).
The Aargau/Solothurn Media Prize, with a total prize money of 12,000 Swiss francs, was awarded for the 16th time. The President of the Aargau/Solothurn Media Prize Association, Thomas Müller, was delighted to welcome another impressive number of around 160 guests from the world of media, politics and business to the Stadttheater Olten and announced the expansion of the media prize to include the "Online" category from 2014. Peter Gomm, Mayor of the Canton of Solothurn, paid tribute to the outstanding journalistic activities of the regional and local media companies in both cantons and was delighted with the great interest that the Media Prize AG/SO now enjoys in journalistic circles. Gomm advised media professionals to take a more relaxed approach to politics.
The expert jury, headed by jury president Peter Schellenberg and the heads of the expert jury Josefa Haas (print), Nicole Aeby (photo), Vinzenz Wyss (radio) and Toni Zwyssig (TV), selected one prizewinner each from around 120 entries submitted.
The winner in the print category is Sarah Jäggi, a freelance journalist at Die Zeit (Switzerland), with her entry "Hannah, we'll help you" on the topic of "baby windows", published on August 29, 2013 in the Swiss edition of Die Zeit.
In the photo category this year, the expert jury headed by Nicole Aeby chose the photo reportage "Boris Banga is voted out of office after 33 years" by Hanspeter Bärtschi, photographer at AZ Solothurner Zeitung, published on December 4, 2013 in the AZ Grenchner Tagblatt.
The media prize in the radio category goes to Céline Raval, journalist at Radio 32, for the series "Passion for agriculture"broadcast in October 2013.
In the TV category, the jury chose the entry by TV journalist Christophe Gut for his SRF docu-feature "To be continued: Simon's way - living with Down syndrome", aired in fall 2013.
The Aargau/Solothurn Media Prize is awarded by the media companies based in the two cantons (press, radio, TV and, from 2014, online) and the cantonal governments of Aargau and Solothurn. According to the press release, the aim of the prize is to recognize and promote journalistic quality in local and regional reporting.
