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The Megalizzi – Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists

The Megalizzi – Niedzielski prize rewards aspiring journalists that show a strong attachment to the EU and its values.

The 2025 winners are:

  • The 'Lens Award' was attributed to Italy’s Elisa Ortuso for her impactful video on an EU project in Rome supporting Ukrainian families with children battling cancer.
  • France’s Hildegard Leloué received the 'Pen Award' for her insightful European coverage.
  • The 'Frame Award,' voted by the public, was awarded to Sarah Costes, also from France, for her striking photo of a project on the protection of storks in Diyarbakir.
The Megalizzi – Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists

The other finalists in the competition for the prize were Emilia Wietecha (Poland), Ioanna Kollia (Greece), Marina Hadjikyriacou (Cyprus), Marusia Monroy Vandersmissen (Spain), Michele Calamaio (Italy), Noé Keutgen (Belgium), Oleksii Pavlusenko (Ukraine), Polina Bargan (Estonia). We hope that they will all continue sharing Antonio and Bartek’s attachment to the European project and its values and that they will be journalists committed to reporting honestly about the EU and its benefits to regions and people.

The prize is awarded during the EU Regions’ Week to three of the participants selected for the Youth4Regions programme for aspiring journalists. A European Commission jury grants two of the awards by assessing the participants’ commitment to EU values, as well as the quality of their previous work and of their entry into the Youth4Regions programme. A third prize is awarded by the public to talented young photojournalists following an online competition of photos depicting EU-funded projects. The Megalizzi–Niedzielski prize honours the memory of Antonio Megalizzi and Bartek Piotr Orent-Niedzielski, young European journalists with a strong attachment to the EU and its values, who passed away after a terrorist attack in Strasbourg in late 2018.

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