"The Zurich Journalism Prize should take on a new meaning"

WW: You have been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Zurich Journalism Prize for a year now. After a lawyer, the foundation is now headed by a former journalist. Does that mean anything?
Andrea Masüger: No. It is important that the foundation is managed by someone who has contacts and knows the media scene. My predecessor was a media lawyer and therefore had good connections in the media world. But it is important that there are journalists on the jury. The Board of Trustees is more about maintaining the network.

How do you want to make the award better known to the public?
We have gained the impression that the Zurich Journalism Prize has been sold a little short of its value in recent years. It is the most important journalism prize in Switzerland. For many years it was practically alone. In recent years, there have been many new smaller and larger prizes. Now there is even a prize that claims to be Switzerland's media prize. We therefore want to reposition and upgrade the Zurich Journalism Prize. To this end, we have decided on a number of measures.

Which ones?
We used to have different categories. There was a newspaper prize, a magazine prize, a young talent prize and a prize for the overall work. Now we are making the whole thing more flexible. There are no longer any categories; a maximum of three prizes will be awarded, regardless of whether the entries were published in newspapers or magazines. Online contributions can now also be submitted. There will also be a prize for lifetime achievement. But we also want to become more active. The foundation should also be visible outside of the award ceremony. We have set ourselves the goal of organizing one or two media policy events in the Zurich area each year. The Zurich Journalism Prize label should take on a new meaning and not just be associated with the award ceremony.

Who can submit?
Submissions can be made by the author themselves, their editor-in-chief or a colleague. All text contributions that have been published in a medium in the cantons of Zurich and Schaffhausen can be submitted. This is for historical reasons, as the Zurich Press Association is behind the prize.

What measures are planned to encourage more people to submit?
All newspapers in the Zurich/Schaffhausen area are contacted with the aim of appearing on their notice boards or being published on their intranet. There are flyers and a website. We have now been able to recruit ambassadors to represent our cause in the larger publishing houses. Most of them are senior journalists or deputy editors-in-chief. The Board of Trustees meets with them once or twice a year for a mutual exchange of ideas. These ambassadors should promote the Zurich Journalism Prize in their publishing houses and encourage people to submit entries. Perhaps they can also point journalists to articles that should be submitted. They are our link to the editorial offices. It is often the case that editors-in-chief do too little to encourage their staff to submit articles. I don't really understand this, because it is a positive sign for the editor-in-chief and an incentive for his further work if his newspaper or one of his journalists wins an award. It's also a kind of "editorial marketing", but not all bosses understand that.

In contrast to the other awards, the jury is relatively small. Are you thinking of expanding the jury?
No. The larger juries usually have subgroups for the various categories such as print, television, etc. We don't have to. That's not necessary for us, as they are all text entries. The quality of the jury is more important than the quantity.

How much is the prize money?
A total of 40,000 francs.

How many submissions do you expect?
(Laughs) As many good ones as possible! So far, there have always been between 120 and 170 entries

When is the award ceremony?
On May 23 at the Casinotheater Winterthur.

As I said, there are many journalism prizes in Switzerland. What is special about the Zurich Journalism Prize?
We are the most traditional and important journalism prize in Switzerland, which continues to specifically promote print journalism and now also online journalism. The Zurich area has the highest density of quality publications in Switzerland. This is an obligation. We also want to remain independent and not merge with other awards. We have given ourselves a new, modern and more lively outfit. This is reflected in our new logo with its retro design, which is intended to emphasize the future of the written word. We are also seeking cooperation with the most important journalistic journals and key industry publications such as Werbewoche.

Interview: Pierre C. Meier

This article comes from the current print edition the advertising week.

Board of Trustees
Andrea Masüger (Chairman), CEO Südostschweiz Medien
Esther Girsberger, publicist
Kaspar Loeb, Dynamics Group AG
David Strohm, NZZ am Sonntag

Jury:
Fredy Gsteiger (President), SRF
Susan Boos, WOZ
Marco Meier, publicist
Margrit Sprecher, publicist
Alain Zucker, Tages-Anzeiger

Ambassadors:
Balance sheet: Dirk Schütz, Editor-in-Chief
The Observer: Andres Büchi, Editor-in-Chief
The Landbote: Colette Gradwohl, Editor-in-Chief
Handelszeitung: Beat Balzli, Editor-in-Chief
Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Luzi Bernet, Head of News
NZZ am Sonntag: Thomas Isler, Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Ringier AG: Hannes Britschgi, Head of the Ringier School of Journalism
SonntagsZeitung: Simon Bärtschi, Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Tages-Anzeiger: Alain Zucker, Head of Background/Reporter
WOZ Die Wochenzeitung: Susan Boos, Editorial Director

Zurich Journalism Prize Office:
Monika Menne
Kirchweg 61, 8102 Oberengstringen,
Tel. 044 750 29 68, e-mail: [email protected]
www.zh-journalistenpreis.ch