Athens, 30th of May 2008: Ministers of Culture from across the Euro-Mediterranean region gathered together at the Astir Palace, to the south of the city of Athens for the official opening of the third Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Culture and to celebrate this year’s winners of the Anna Lindh Foundation’s Journalist Prize.

The Prize, which aims to encourage exceptional articles that promote better understanding between people living across the Mediterranean, selected in this edition winners from Belgium, Israel, Slovenia and Turkey.

During the official ceremony, the awards were bestowed to the four winners by Mr. Michalis Liapis, the Greek Minister of Culture, Mr. Vasko Simoniti, the Slovenian Minister of Culture, Mr. Nikos Megrelis from the International Federation of Journalists, and by Mr Andrι Azoulay, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation.

In opening the ceremony, Mr Azoulay commented: ‘In a region where globalisation and the emerging information society are having a tremendous impact on the everyday life of people in the region, the media plays a key role not only in disseminating news, but has a deeper impact in shaping peoples perceptions and thoughts. For this reason we need to encourage the brave individuals who are working to provide a better understanding of people in the region.’

The winners who received their award in the presence of the Ministers are :

Mr. Gideon Levy from Israel for his article « The Children of 5767 » published in the daily Israeli newspaper Haaretz in September 2007. The article reviews different stories of Palestinian children who got killed by the Israeli Defence Forces during the Jewish year 5767 (Gregorian year September 2006 – September 2007).

Ms. Jamila Zekhnini from Belgium for her series of articles « MusulWoman » published in the monthly publication Agenda Interculturel in October 2007. In her series of articles the journalist presents successful models of Muslim women who are standing for their rights by proofing that Islam, contrary to common perceptions, could be in favour of gender equality.

Mr. Uros Skerl from Slovenia for his article « Why wait for another massacre? » published in the daily Slovenian newspaper Dnevnik in May 2007. The article warns the international community about a latent conflict that may explode on the European Union’s borders; notably in the Balkans between the Serbs and the Bosnians.

Ms. Vercihan Ziflioglu from Turkey for her series of articles « Arts and Dialogue in Turkey » published in the Turkish Daily News in June 2007. In her series of articles, the journalist demonstrates, through successful projects in Turkey, that arts remain a powerful tool in promoting dialogue between different communities living together in Anatolia.

In addition, the jury of the Anna Lindh Foundation Journalistic Prize decided to attribute Special Mention to two other journalists : Nadia El Awady from Egypt for her article « Inside Palestinian Resistance Movements » published on Islamonline.net and Stefano Valentino from Italy for his article « Cosmopolitan Pyla : Where Cyprus is already reunified » published in the weekly Italian newspaper, Il Venerdi.