The Central European Initiative (CEI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) are proud to announce the 2025 Call for Applications. The Call is open to nationals of the following CEI Member States: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.

This year’s Award seeks to highlight the role of investigative journalism in raising public awareness of critical issues such as human rights violations, social discrimination, corruption, gender inequality, environmental threats.

The Award is divided into two categories: professional journalists - 4,000 EUR and young professional journalists (born on/after 1995) - 1,000 EUR. Print, Radio, TV, news agencies and Internet media are admitted.

Category 1: candidates who have been actively involved in investigative reporting over the last three years and are still active in journalism. Two samples of journalistic work will be relevant for the evaluation from the jury.

Category 2: candidates who have been actively involved in investigative reporting, even in the context of training activities organised by schools/universities/NGOs and, as a result, should have published at least one investigative story meeting all professional standards. One sample of journalistic work will be relevant for the evaluation from the jury.

Candidates shall fill in the Online Application Form available here: https://www.cei.int/contact/application_cei_seemo and will upload the following documents in PDF format:

1. Curriculum vitae (in English).

2. Recommendation letter (in English) written and signed by trustworthy individuals, journalism and media organisations, media companies, civil society organisations, journalism schools or universities, trade unions or other social organisations from the target countries.

3. Up to three samples of journalistic work in a single PDF document (minimum two samples in Category 1, one sample in Category 2). For online work samples, insert hyperlinks in a PDF document, or print out online articles in a PDF file. Hyperlinks need to be accessible by 15 December 2025. In the case of audio/video material, please upload the files making use of file-sharing services (e.g. WeTransfer or Dropbox) including a script or scenario. Material prepared in local languages should be accompanied by a short summary in English.

Applications shall be submitted by 15 July 2025 (23:59 CEST).