Armenian Students Awarded Dutch Internship

Maastricht - May 7, 2009

Press freedom is not a given in Armenia, rated No. 151 of the 195 countries analysed in Freedom House’s 2009 Freedom of the Press Index.

So events celebrating journalistic achievement in this landlocked former Soviet state are a big deal. And for five Armenian students, the World Press Freedom Day of 3 May, 2009, brought an opportunity for enrichment of their experiences with journalism.

The students and a duo of professors from Yerevan State University won a study trip and internship programme at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands.

The award ceremony was held in the Assembly hall of “Vazgenyan” Seminary on the shores of Lake Sevan in central Armenia. The European Journalism Centre and Media and Law Institute organised the afternoon to recognise the outstanding achievements in the second annual Investigative Journalism Competition held among eight leading Armenian universities. The competition is part of the two-year Journalism Practices Enhancement Project, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Journalists from five TV outlets and four newspapers attended the Press Freedom Day ceremony, as did journalism and law professors, students from the eight universities and students of the seminary.

Karen Andreasyan, the author of the competition, opened the award ceremony with an overview of the two-month competition. Marjan Tillmans, project manager from the EJC, outlined the impact of the investigative competition on the professional development of the future journalists and lawyers. Speeches from the various project stakeholders followed.

The theme of the contest’s mock investigations this year was the “mysterious disappearance of journalist Mariam Grigoryan, who had been investigating the dangerous consequences of the sectarian organisations activities in Armenia”. Grigoryan, the mock storyline said, was going to cover the fraud and machinations of some people having used the ideology of the religious organisation “Word of Life”. Following in Mariam’s steps the students met and interviewed people of different occupations and researched websites and printed materials. Afterward, deciphering the code and listening to the special announcement on the radio, the competing teams found out the venue of the criminal group meetings and disclosed the criminal activities of the so-called “Pastor Arsen”.

The following awards were given during the Press Freedom Day ceremony:

The nomination for “The Best Presentation” was awarded to a student from “Anania Shirakatsy” University team. In the selection for “The Best Media Defender” the project’s board of Armenian lawyers chose as their winner a law student from Armenian-Russian Slavonic University. The nomination for the “The Best Investigators” was given to “USEL” University team. The nomination for “The Best Article” was awarded to Armenian-Russian Slavonic University team.

The nomination for “The Best Presentation” was awarded to Gevorg Yepremyan from “Anania Shirakatsy” University team.  In the category for “The Best Media Defender” the project’s board of Armenian lawyers selected as their winner a law student from Armenian-Russian Slavonic University, Yelena Arakelyan.

The nomination for the “The Best Investigators” was given to “USEL” University team, (Luisa Mardanyan, Amalya Torosyan, Manan Karapetyan Levon Badalyan).

The nomination for “The Best Article”was awarded to Armenian-Russian Slavonic University team, (Tatevik Ghazaryan, Inessa Dimidkova, Levon Panosyan, Elina Chilingaryan, Arsen Hakobyan).

And the winner of “Investigative Journalism and Media Law” Competition (work done in 2008) was the team of Yerevan State University (Meline Martirosyan, Shushan Stepanyan, Tamara Grigoryan, Lusine Paravyan, Gevorg Avchyan).

Students received various prizes including the top prize of a study trip and internship programme at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands.

Two professors from Yerevan State University and “Hyusisayin” University will also join the group and focus on media curriculum development discussions while at Tilburg.

Read here about last year’s winners.

Posted on May 7, 2009 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Filed under development.