Young VU Journalists Awarded at the Romas Sakadolskis Journalism Forum
On 15 September, the Romas Sakadolskis Academic Journalism Forum awarded young journalists. The Young Journalist Award was initiated by Vilnius University’s (VU) Young Journalist Society.
The main prize was awarded to Julija Stankevičiūtė, a second-year journalism student at Vilnius University, for her article Looking Gorillas in the Eyes. The second-place award went to Kipras Rimavičius, a third-year journalism student at Vilnius University, for his article Palanga the Holidaymakers Do Not See, and the third place went to Gintarė Tamonytė, a twelfth-grader at Biržai Saulės High School, for her article Tongasoa eto Madagasikara, or Welcome to Madagascar. The young journalists were judged by Raimundas Celencevičius, Aleksandra Ketlerienė, Prof. Audronė Nugaraitė, Dovydas Pancerovas, and Gabija Strumylaitė.
According to one of the steering group members Emilija Sakadolskienė, in these turbulent times, the primary duty of a journalist is, as Shakespeare would say, “to tell the truth and shame the devil.”
“Today’s wealth of information is difficult to assess without an intermediary with strong values. This Forum is about remembering some of those values and honoring those basing their work on them,” E. Sakadolskienė said.
This year’s R. Sakadolskis journalism awards went to the following journalists: LRT journalist Rita Miliūtė (TV programme Window to the Government (Lith. Langas į valdžią)) awarded for outstanding entertainment journalism, Verslo Žinios awarded for outstanding opinion journalism – the editorial position expressed in the lead articles, LRT journalist Benas Gerdžiūnas awarded for outstanding factual journalism – reporting from Ukraine, and LRT Research Department and its journalists Mindaugas Aušra, Jurgita Čeponytė, Rūta Juknevičiūtė, Indrė Makaraitytė, Jurga Tvaskienė for outstanding investigative journalism and their research Anatomy of Riot (Lith. Riaušių anatomija). The winners were selected by a panel of media professionals and academics: Vytautas Bruveris, Birutė Davidonytė, Jūratė Juškaitė, Edvardas Kubilius, Rūta Lankininkaitė, Rimvydas Valatka, Lauryna Vireliūnaitė, Ramūnas Zilnys, and Ina Žurkuvienė.
Romas Sakadolskis Journalism Forum is a discussion platform that brings together Lithuanian and foreign journalism professionals, media researchers, and future journalists.
Romas Sakadolskis is a Lithuanian-American journalist, a long-time correspondent at the Voice of America, and head of the Lithuanian editorial office. He took part in all the most significant events related to the restoration of Lithuania’s independence and told his audience about them. R. Sakadolskis introduced Lithuania to a Western understanding of media: as a lecturer at Vytautas Magnus and Vilnius Universities, he taught his students correct, fact-based journalism, and dreamed of real journalistic research.