Swiss Press Award 2016: The winners

The Swiss Press Awards 2016 were presented on Wednesday, April 27 at the Bellevue Palace Hotel in Bern by the Reinhardt von Graffenried Foundation in the presence of Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga. The Lausanne rapper La Gale (Karine Guignard) premiered the Swiss Press Song 16 "Echoes". The grande dame of German-language journalism Margrit Sprecher was presented with the Reinhardt von Graffenried Lifetime Achievement Award. As last year, the award ceremony was streamed live on the worldwide web.

The winners are Sophie Roselli from the Tribune de Genève (Swiss Press Print), Anetka Mühlemann from 24 Heures (Swiss Press Online), Matieu Klee from SRF Regionaljournal Basel (Swiss Press Radio), Prisca Häberli from Tele Bärn (Swiss Press Video) and Niels Ackermann, freelance photographer (Swiss Press Photo).
 

Each of the five award winners was presented with the diamond for their outstanding work and the sum of 20,000 Swiss francs.

The following other prizes worth 1,000 francs were awarded: Michael Feller + Oliver Meier (2nd prize print), Christian Keller (3rd prize print), Patrice Siegrist (2nd prize online), Thomas Angeli (3rd prize online), Mike Baader (2nd prize radio), Grégoire Baur (3rd prize radio), Thomas Vogel (2nd prize video), Marc Meschenmoser (3rd prize video). The winners of the Swiss Press Photo Pascal Mora (current affairs) Kaspar Thalmann (everyday life), Daniel Rihs (Swiss stories), Mara Truog (portrait), Arnd Wiegmann (sport) each receive CHF 2,000.

The publisher-independent Fondation Reinhardt von Graffenried was founded by Franziska and Erwin Reinhardt-Scherz and Charles von Graffenried, who died in 2012, with the aim of promoting Swiss journalism. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Swiss Prize for Local Journalism and the 25th anniversary of the Swiss Press Photo Prize. Two books "30 Years of Local Journalism" and "25 Years of Swiss Press Photo" will be published to mark the anniversary.

The four-language Swiss Press Award catalog with the works of the nominated journalists together with the traditional yearbook Swiss Press Photo (Edition Till Scaap) are available in bookstores. The national touring exhibition "Swiss Press Photo 16" starts on May 4, 2016 at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich before moving on to Lugano, Bern and Prangins.

All winning entries can be viewed on Swisspressaward.ch can be viewed and read.

Reinhard von Graffenried Liefetime Achievement Award
 

Margrit Sprecher, journalist

The grand dame of Swiss journalism lives in Zurich and has already received the International Journalism Prize Klagenfurt in 1985, the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize Hamburg in 1992, the Zurich Press Association Prize in 2003 and the Grisons Literature Prize in 2008. She is the first Swiss journalist to be honored with the Fondation's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Margrit Sprecher, born in Chur in 1936, studied newspaper and theater studies in Munich and Vienna and built up and headed the "Leben heute" department at Weltwoche until 2000. With her numerous reports and texts, she has had a significant influence on German-language journalism. Her books "Leben und Sterben im Todestrakt" and "Ungebetene Besuche" have attracted a great deal of attention.
 

Swiss Press Photographer 2016

Niels Ackermann - Das Magazin / L'Hebdo / Le Temps / Sonntags Zeitung
Les enfants de Tchernobyl sont devenus grands
published on May 16, 2015

When the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded 30 years ago, they were not yet born and their town did not exist. Slavutych was only built in 1986, just outside the exclusion zone. Yulia and Zhenya are getting married, but what future awaits them, the children of Slavutych? The photo series from Ukraine's youngest city was taken between 2012 and 2015.

Winner Swiss Press Print

Sophie Roselli - Tribune de Genève
Young people on a jihadi path 
(Des jeunes se préparent au jihad)
published on August 28, 2015

Winner Swiss Press Online

Anetka Muhlemann - 24Heures
The secrets of the shingle makers
(Les secrets des tavillonneurs)
published on December 23, 2015

Traditional wooden shingle roofs in the Alps evoke nostalgic feelings in us with their simple beauty. But aren't they doomed to disappear? A federal program is promoting the revival of this time-honored craft. Anetka Mühlemann accompanied one of the last Vaudois shingle makers through all seasons and created a reportage full of values, sounds, colors and poetry. You discover how a wooden roof enriches contemporary architecture with its warmth. And how the new media make it possible to combine texts, photos and videos into a rich work in which an entire production team was involved.

Winner Swiss Press Radio

Matieu Klee - Regionaljournal Basel
The "control affair" in Basel
published as of August 7, 2015

The Control Office for Undeclared Work in the Canton of Basel-Landschaft cheated with public funds by collecting far more subsidies than it paid out in wages to its inspectors. This explosive result of an investigation, which began with an inexplicable decline in undeclared work inspections, culminated in a criminal investigation after further inconsistencies were uncovered. In addition, the Baselbieter government demanded several hundred thousand francs back from the private inspection agency. Other media picked up the story and spun it further - investigative local journalism with the typical ingredients: a powerful politician in need of an explanation, a wall of silence, complaints about the "media campaign" and protection of sources as the highest maxim.

Winner Swiss Press Video

Prisca Häberli, Natalie Barros and Rahel Grunder - Tele Bärn
Bullying at Roggwil school
published from October 26 to November 2, 2015

The series begins with vehement accusations against the Roggwil school: a girl and a boy in the upper school are being systematically bullied. After the first report, an avalanche began. Other parents come forward and report assaults on their children, and the school management comes under massive pressure. In the multi-part report, the families affected, the school and the authorities speak out. Youth psychologist Allan Guggenbühl takes a look at the problem of bullying from the outside. The principal is heavily criticized by former colleagues. After a week of continuous reporting on TeleBärn, during which more and more cases come to light, the education commission finally parts ways with the principal.