Belsat TV turns 14. Our journalists win Free Word awards


The results of the annual Free Word competition organised by the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) have been announced today, on the 14th anniversary of Belsat.

On 10 December 2007, Belsat TV, the first inependent Belarusian TV station, was launched as part of Telewizja Polska S.A. in partnership with Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several European governments and foundations. Preparations for its launching started in June 2006 under the leadership of Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, the incumbent director of Belsat TV. For 14 years, we keep working in spite of the Lukashenka regime’s pressure and persecuting journalists – in the Belarusian language and without censorship.

The Free Word competition is held every year with the aim of improving the professional skills of media workers, encouraging talented journalists, and stimulating their activities in upholding the principles of professional journalism and freedom of speech. Traditionally, the BAJ names the best works of colleagues in five nominations: ‘Information’, ‘Analytics’, ‘Literary Journalism’, ‘Journalistic Investigation’ and ‘Debut’. This year, the jury have selected the winners in all five nominations from among the contestants who submitted their works written in 2020.

This year, imprisoned Belsat TV journalist Katsyaryna Andreyeva has taken the first place in the category ‘Information’ for her report about spending three days in the notorious detention centre on Akrestsin Street in Minsk. Political prisoner Andreyeva is currently serving a two-year sentence in the women’s penal colony in Homiel.

Belsatter Stas Ivashkevich and the series of reports on rigging the 2020 election head the list of winners in the category ‘Analytics’.

In addition, the first prize in the category ‘Literary Journalism’ has gone to Belsat online project ‘I Was Being Lucky’. In 2020, Belarus became a country with thousands of detained, beaten, tortured people. In the project, Belsat.eu told the stories of 21 Belarusians who suffered police brutality. The stories of our characters were different, but almost everyone at some point in the conversation said the unexpected: ‘I was being lucky. I was lucky, because someone was beaten harder, so I didn’t ask for help. I was lucky because I was able to escape from the country. Lucky… to stay alive’. The project was translated into six languages: Belarusian, Russia, Polish, English, Ukrainian, Slovak.

Volunteers near detention centre on Akrestsin Street. Minsk August 2020.
Photo: Belsat

Our colleague Hanna Halyota got the third Literary Journalism prize for the video report ‘How Nina Bahinskaya explains police officers’ behaviour’.

And the second prize in the nomination ‘Journalistic Investigation’ was presented to Belsat contributor Volha Ratmirava for her investigation into the issue of corruption in Belarus’ healthcare sector.

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