The best journalists of 2019 were awarded at the 25th Annual Gala of the Press Club that was held in Chisinau on December 19. Ten awards in seven categories, such as editorial, photography, investigation, longread, podcast, video report and print media, were handed over in the Gala. There were also offered five special prizes, IPN reports.

The award for the best editorial was collected by Anatol Moraru of NordNews portal. The winners in the investigation category were Ilie Gulca and Mădălin Necșuțu of the Journalistic Investigation Center and the portal RISE Moldova.

The best video report was made by Viorica Tătaru of TV8 channel and Nicu Gușan, who produces the program “Simply” at RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service. Aliona Ciurcă of the paper Ziarul de Gardă was awarded in the print media category.

The podcast of the year – “Ticket to Parliament” - belongs to Felicia Nedzelschi and Ștefan Grigoriță of the portal Agora. Olga Gnatkova of NewsMaker and the portal “Oameni și Kilometri” won the award for the best longread.

The award for photography went to Elena Kovalenko of IPN News Agency for a feature made within the project “Oameni și Kilometri”.

Special prizes were awarded to Diana Popa of TV8 – hope of the year. Diana Guja’s Teotitude.com was named the best blog. The portal NordNews became the evolution of the year. Ziarul de Gardă and SP Bălți were awarded for innovative journalism. The excellence prize went to Vladimir Beșleagă.

Also, student Ilinca Televca won the Scholarship of the Independent Journalism Center to the value of €1,000 for academic standing and for involvement in extracurricular activities aimed at promoting high-quality journalism.

The Journalists of the Year Gala has been staged annually since 1995 within the Press Club of Chisinau. The main goal of the event is to support and encourage journalists’ efforts to meet the international professional standards on high-quality press.