Journalists Nemanja Rujević, Ingrid Gerkama, Natalie Bertrams and Tristen Taylor are the winners of the annual award for investigative journalism "Dejan Anastasijević", which is awarded by the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia.
They received an award in the category of print media for the article "Parrots as valuable as cocaine" about the smuggling of exotic birds, which was published in the weekly Vreme.
"Parrots Worth Like Cocaine" text you can read on this link, talks about Serbia being an important point on the route used to smuggle exotic birds from Africa. Endangered species of parrots in the west of Europe cost several tens of thousands of euros each, and birds can be as profitable as drugs for criminals, and the damage to nature is enormous.
In the category of electronic media, the award was won by N1 Journalist Maja Nikolić for the documentary film "The Last Tribute", within the documentary series "Under the Surface".
"The Last Tribute" deals with the death of Senior Sergeant First Class Dejan Stojković during the rehearsal of the military exercise "Lightning Strike" on June 24, 2021 in Pešter.
You can watch the award-winning film here link.
In the category of online media, BIRN journalist Radmilo Marković received the award for his research "Belgrade - a paradise for wild construction and dubious legislation: BIRN found almost half a million disputed square meters".
The "Dejan Anastasijević" Annual Award for Investigative Journalism was awarded for the 18th year in a row by the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, with the support of the US Embassy.
Prizes are awarded every year for investigative journalistic works in three categories: electronic media (TV and radio), online media and print media, and for topics that are of extreme importance to the citizens of the territory where the media is distributed, broadcast or used, they reveal and prove unknown facts that journalists have come to by their own work. This year, 45 journalistic works were submitted to the competition.
