Preamble
With the annual awarding of the “Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media”, the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig supports the freedom of the press and thus the commemoration of the fall of 1989. This prize is awarded to journalists, publishers, and media institutions from around the world that are committed to the cause of protecting and expanding freedom of the press, and in doing so display a willingness to take risks, great personal commitment, persistence, courage and a firm belief in democracy.
1 General principles
(1) The prize is usually awarded to one laureate and the prize money per laureate is limited to a maximum of 10,000 euros.
(2) The awards ceremony takes place once a year.
(3) The prize will be advertised publicly. Thus, a commitment to award the prize in the year of the tender is included.
2 Proposal conditions
(1) Any real or legal person has the right to propose candidates for the prize. There is no regional restriction.
(2) The proposal will be effected by the submission of given name and last name as well as home country of the candidate in order to allow an unambiguous identification of the person or institution.
(3) The proposal must be submitted with biographical data, a short informal justification, and, if possible, with publications and selected press articles or press comments.
(4) Until 28/29 February of each year of awarding, the documents must be sent to the following address:
Medienstiftung der Sparkasse Leipzig
Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media
Menckestraße 27
D-04155 Leipzig
or
info@leipziger-medienstiftung.de
(5) The documents for proposals are not insured. By submitting the documents, the proposer exempts the Media Foundation of all claims.
3 Jury
(1) The jury for the election of the “Prize for the Freedom and Future of the Media” is composed of the Foundation Council and the Board of Foundation of the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig.
(2) The jury is not bound by instructions and free in its decision.
(3) The jury meetings are not public and can also be held online/hybrid. The jury has a quorum if at least half of the members and the chairman of the foundation council or, if he is unable to attend, his deputy, attend the decision-making meeting. A jury member who is unable to attend can nominate one of the candidates by submitting a written declaration to the chairman of the foundation council. The nomination is only valid for the first round of voting in accordance with § 6, Paragraphs 2 and 3.
(4) The jury’s decision is final. The decision must be justified in written form.
Legal recourse is excluded.
4 Nomination criteria
(1) This prize is intended for distinguished journalists, publishers, and media institutions from around the world that are committed to the cause of protecting and expanding freedom of the press, and in doing so display a willingness to take risks, great personal commitment, persistence, courage and a firm belief in democracy.
Anyone who strengthens the protection and development of press freedom and uncovers abuses despite all obstacles, difficulties and significant personal risks can be nominated. Here, the personal commitment to press freedom outweighs personal reputation.
(2) The performance according to the nomination criteria
- is regarded as a contribution to the strengthening of press freedom, for example if resistance had to be overcome,
- requires a journalistic quality,
- shows a well above-average commitment,
- must refer to a relevant or remarkable object of general interest and
- takes into account additional factors, that are particularly to be valued, such as an outstanding and meaningful implementation.
5 Nomination process
The selection is made in a two-stage examination process with defined criteria in accordance with § 4 Paragraph 2. The candidates first go through an assessment process. The jury then selects the winner. The result of the assessment is taken into account with places 1-3 in the ranking in the voting process (§ 6). It also has the character of a recommendation.
(1) For the peer view process, the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig wins a renowned expert from the field of journalism and media.
(2) The expert verifies if the submitted candidatures correspond to the nomination criteria of § 4, paragraph 2, and creates an independent expert opinion.
(3) The expert opinion includes a detailed research on all candidates on the basis of the submitted documents (e. g. exposés, articles, reports, broadcasts). Based on this research, the expert opinion includes a ranking as well as recommendations for the most worthy nominations.
(4) For each criteria in § 4, paragraph 2, the expert team can assign up to ten points on the basis of a thorough research. Thus, one candidate can reach a maximum of 50 points.
(5) In preparation for a decision, the expert opinion will be sent to the jury at least three weeks before the meeting of the jury.
6 Election process
(1) The jury makes the decision on the award in a multi-stage voting process. After each round of voting, the jury members explain their decision for their favourites. The three first-place winners according to the expert opinion (§ 5) are automatically considered as seeded in the first round of voting.
(2) In the first round of voting, each jury member has up to three votes, which are distributed among three candidates. Each named candidate receives only one vote.
(3) In the second round of voting, the "shortlist", each jury member has only one vote. Only the top 5 candidates from the first round take part in the second round. Other candidates for this round will only be considered if the votes are tied.
(4) The decision as to who will receive the prize (including whether there should be one or more laureates) will be made at the end of the second round of voting by a qualified majority (2/3 of the votes). Abstentions are deemed not to have been cast.
(5) Preferably, the prize will be awarded to a single laureate. It is also possible to award it to several laureates.
(6) It is in the discretion of the jury to nominate worthy candidates again for the next year.
(7) If a candidate will not accept the prize, the jury determines another laureate in order of the votes.
(8) In special cases, an election by the way of circulation is possible, if all members of the jury agree with the procedure and a qualified majority of 2/3 of the members agree on the election.
7 Award ceremony
(1) In general, the award ceremony will take place at the “Media Campus Villa Ida” in Leipzig.
(2) In general, the award ceremony will take place at 8 October, the eve of 9 October, which is a decisive date for the Leipzig fall of 1989.
(3) The prize will be awarded by the Chairman of the Board of Foundation and the Chairman of the Foundation Council. If one of them is unable to attend, the Board of Foundation will arrange representation at the award ceremony. Preferably, the respective representative should be a member of the Foundation Council or the Board.
(4) The prize will be awarded to the laureates personally. Exceptions to this rule shall be made by the Executive Board in agreement with the laureate. Legal recourse is excluded.
(5) The Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig will transfer the prize money to the laureate in the agreed manner. The prize money will be transferred to the laureate’s bank account. The bank account details will be sent to the Media Foundation by the laureate together with the declaration of acceptance of the prize. In justified exceptional cases and after intensive examination, a cash payment to the laureate or a transfer to the account of a representative of the laureate or a cash payment to a representative of the laureate is possible. The period of transferring the prize money expires at the end of the third year after the award ceremony.
Leipzig, 11 December 2024