Awards

Article “How energy company workers divert funds intended for boiler house cleanup” by Stanislau Ivashkevich.

The program Davaitse Razbiratsa (Let’s unpack this) was recognized as the journalistic program of the year. The program’s regular authors include team members of the Belarusian Investigative Center.

A series of stories by Stanislau Ivashkevich about the 2020 rigged election in Belarus.

Volha Alkhimenka (Ratmirava)’s story on corruption in healthcare system.

BIC journalist Aliaksei Martsinkevich won the award in the “Analytical Journalism” category for his article, “Will the lifting of sanctions on Belarusian potash fertilizers affect global hunger?”

The Krzysztof Michalski Prize was established by the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and the Austrian Embassy in Poland for Belarusian journalists in exile.

Video Analysis by Aliakser Martsinkevich, Maryna Volkava, and Stanislau Ivashkevich: “Will Lifting Sanctions on Belarusian Potash Save the World from Hunger?”

Since 2008, Belarusian Association of Journalists has organized the Volnaye Slova (Free Word) creative competition to recognize the professionalism of Belarusian media authors and to support their efforts to uphold the principles of professional journalism and freedom of speech.

Investigation by Alexey Karpeka, who worked on it as part of the BRC team: "The Corrupt Knight. What Businesses Does the Businessman Zaytsev, Close to Lukashenko, Own and Why Does He Register Them Under the Name of a Priest?"

Since 2008, the "Volnae Slova" (Free Word) contest has been organized by the Belarusian Association of Journalists to recognize the professionalism of authors from Belarusian media and to support their efforts to uphold the principles of professional journalism and freedom of speech.

The award in the Data Journalism (Medium Division) category went to the Dubai Unlocked project. As part of it, the BIC published Marina Volkova's investigation ‘Square metres on Palm Jumeirah. How the Karić family spends what they earn in Belarus’. The project was coordinated by the international Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project OCCRP and more than 70 media outlets took part in it. 

The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) was founded in 1964 in the USA. Its mission is ‘to encourage comprehensive and ethical reporting without fear or favoritism’. 

The first-place award in the “Best Investigative Piece” category was given to a report on the Lithuanian company Garsų pasaulis. The company was involved in the “New Belarus Passport” project and also printed passports for Lithuanian citizens. The investigation revealed that Garsų pasaulis had repeatedly been involved in corruption scandals and uncovered its ties to businessman Victor Chevtsov, a close associate of Aleksandr Lukashenko.

Alina Yanchur, the author of the winning investigation, received the prize.

The first-place award in the “Best Investigative Piece” category was given to an investigation into a filtration camp set up by Russian troops in Naroulia, Belarus. In the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, both Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were taken there. Human rights groups described the conditions and treatment of detainees as among some of the harshest they had ever documented.

Maryna Volkava, the author of the winning investigation, received the prize.

The BIC received the Free Media Awards for 2025. The jury recognized our in-depth analysis and news coverage, despite the challenging conditions for independent journalism.