On Monday afternoon, the 38th awarding of journalistic awards and honors of the Foundation for the Promotion of Journalism Ath. V. Botsi took place in the presence of the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, in the atrium of Zappeion Megaros. Among them, SKAI journalists were awarded Elena Laskari and Manolis Kostidis

For this year, the Board of Directors of the Foundation, after the recommendation of the Advisory Committee, decided to award prizes to journalists: Yannis Darras, Alexia Kalaitzi, Evangelia Kareklakis, Xenia Kounalaki of Kathimerini, Apostolos Maggiriadis and Dimitris Nikas.

Following the recommendation of the Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the Foundation decided to award Special Awards to the following journalists: Giorgos Kolovatsios, Mina Moustakas, Elena Laskaris, Mary Papakonstantinou, Stratis Balaska, Manolis Kostidis, Antonis Karagiannakis, Menios Sakellaropoulos, Konstantinos Delezos, Dimitris Tsoukalas, Vassili Vasilopoulos, Konstantinos Philandros.

Following the recommendation of the Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors of the Foundation decided to award Honorary Distinctions to: Giorgos Lianis, Dimitris Tsoukalas, Costas Hardavella, Dimitris Konstandara, ‘Anna Grimani, Panagiotis Rigopoulos, Eleftheria Kollia, Efthimio Kallos, ‘Anni Tapaskou, Tasso Stathopoulos, Christos Plevria.

The following media were honored: “EVOIKI GNOMI” newspaper, Municipal Radio and Television of Orestiada, “PATRIS” newspaper, ALPHA NEWS, “EPIROTIKO MELON” newspaper.

This year’s event aimed to send a double message of democracy and social responsibility, emphasized the president of the Board of Directors. of the Foundation, Panos Karagiannis. “A message of democracy as this year our Republic turns 50 years old. Mature now, experienced, steely and strong without anyone being able to threaten her. This 50-year journey of the Greek Republic, which was not easy, was a journey in which the media and journalists played their own catalytic role”, underlined Mr. Karagiannis.

Some goods such as information are not data but they need effort, hard work and the right people to maintain and contribute to pluralism and democratic functioning, said among others the president of POESY, Dimitris Triantafillou.

The president of ESIEA, Maria Antoniadou said that today is a day of joy as the work of journalists who distinguished themselves and stood out last year is being rewarded. “The colleagues who give their best every day, as they struggle under difficult conditions for the free and pluralistic information of the Greek people”, pointed out Maria Antoniadou who also referred to the 129 deaths of journalists in 2023, the majority of which covered the war in the middle east.

“The journalist does not practice his profession for the purpose of awards. Nor, of course, is he content with them. The great prize of the journalist every day is the feeling of his contribution to the revelation of the truth with a pat on the back from your unknown compatriot who says to you on the street “I read you. So is. Finally someone was found to say it.” And this award is even greater when it has to do with your contribution to the revelation of injustice, with your feeling that once again you found yourself on the right side, even if your path to get there was very lonely. In any case, they don’t take the difficult roads very often. And even fewer open them. Today’s special award for regional reporting, which was awarded to me after the unanimous recommendation of the advisory committee, by the Board of Directors of the Public Beneficial Foundation for the Promotion of Journalism Athanasiou V. Botsis, naturally caused me joy. And I felt particularly honored because according to the rationale of the decision “I contributed to the highlighting and promotion of issues of the Region and especially issues of the North-East Aegean region”. I felt that some people in my professional life, almost 40 years after my first journalistic adventures in the midst of dreams of contributing to changing the world, came and told me something that I said I knew. “You say you did something well, but now you’ve already been recognized, Stratis,” I thought when I learned the decision of my award,” said the journalist of APE-MPE, Stratis Balaskas.

“Today is a special honor for APE-MPE and for all colleagues. The visibility of the district is so important, it is so necessary for the people of the District. We become executive organs of this promotion because as long as the Region lives, Greece lives”, said APE-MPE journalist, Annie Tapaskou.

“At the time we live in, where the responsibilities are very large compared to what we have reached, what is the situation, what are the challenges of journalism, what are the challenges for society, for the democratic state, how is the situation shaped in the work environment, how difficult it is for young kids to enter the profession, how dangerous it is for some people to dedicate their lives to uncovering the truth through investigative journalism, in this era are added some very shocking technological challenges. I think we should all become soldiers of journalism, freedom of expression, democracy and truth. This is everyone’s duty, everyone with their own little struggle, with their own little battle to reach a result that will ensure the future of journalism in the country”, stressed Vassilis Vassilopoulos.