The Journalism as a Profession awards is an annual event where journalists, editors and other prominent figures from the media community come together to celebrate the best of Russian-language journalism. Many journalists in Russia are forced to work as mouthpieces for the Putin regime. But the Journalism as a Profession Awards are designed to promote the work of those journalists brave enough to produce critical investigations into and reports on the stories Kremlin-backed outlets aren’t allowed to cover. This year’s award ceremony will take place online in December 2020.

The Expert Council of the Open Russia Journalism as a Profession Award, reviewed more than 500 works submitted to the competition and has come up with a short list, which includes 35 finalists in seven different categories. They are: “Nation”, “Investigative”, “Reporting”, “Interview”, “Documentary”, “Analysis” and “Multimedia/Podcasts”.

Nation

1. Alexey Romanov. Significant report of the protests in Khabarovsk / A city without Putin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DazI1459gxw)
2. Nadezhda Kndrashova & Ilya Barkhatov. Explosive Silence. 74.RU’s film about the tragedy in Magnitogorsk, Islamists, and silence from the investigators.
   https://74.ru/text/criminal/66424240/ (74.RU. Chelyabinsk Online)
3. Timofey Butenko. Victims of the government: The construction of an infectious disease centre in Saratov: Where do the millions of roubles come from? (https://nversia.ru/news/zhertvy-vlasti-otkuda-berutsya-milliony-rubley-na-stroitelstvo-infekcionnogo-centra-v-saratove/ (Saratov Version)
4. Victor Muchnik. The Pit: The journey of the special settlers. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHlCWHu6A14) (TV-2)
5. Anastasia Sechina. Accusative Clones: How the Presumption of Guilt Works in Russia, and Why a Political Motive is not necessary to send someone to jail. (https://delo-klon.ru/) (7 x 7, Fourth Sector & Saratov Version)

Investigative 

1. Maxim Litavrin, David Frenkel, Yegor Skooroda & Anastasia Boyko. Beaten-up Minsk: How security officials butcher protestors- a study by Mediazona. (https://mediazona.by/article/2020/10/13/minsk-beaten) (Mediazona. Belarus)
2. Roman Anin. Who arranged the hunt for Navalny. (https://istories.media/investigations/2020/09/17/kto-ustroil-okhotu-na-navalnogo/). (iStories)
3. Olesya Shmagun. How Russian officials privatized the oldest international organisation in Geneva. (https://istories.media/investigations/2020/07/21/kak-rossiiskie-chinovniki-privatizirovali-stareishuyu-mezhdunarodnuyu-organizatsiyu-v-zheneve/) (iStories)
4. Ekaterina Fomina. House on the Slope: The story of the mother who decided to hide her children from the world forever. (https://holod.media/dom-na-sklone) (“Holod”)
5. Svetlana Reiter, Andrei Soshnikov & Temur Kiguradze. A Kind Man with no limits: the story of the first murder ordered on the dark web. (https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-50167318) (BBC Russian Service)

Reporting 

1. Elena Kostychenko. Like a storm: Live report from the “red zone” of the 52nd clinical hospital in Moscow. (https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2020/04/29/85144-eto-shtorm) (Novaya Gazeta)
2. Olesya Gerasimenko. “Do you want to end up in the Kingdom of Heaven? Drop to your knees & repent!” How the children lived in the monastery of ‘Heguman’ Sergei. (https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-53250902) (BBC Russian Service)
3. Katerina Gordeeva. This 5 year old girl has spent her entire life in a private clinic- and has never left. (https://meduza.io/feature/2019/12/09/pyatiletnyaya-devochka-vsyu-zhizn-provela-v-chastnoy-klinike-i-nikogda-ee-ne-pokidala-tak-reshili-roditeli) (Meduza)
4. Maria Karpenko. “Girls, let’s all vote for Marinka, so that he doesn’t win”- How residents of Povalikhino chose a cleaning lady over a United Russia candidate. (https://holod.media/glava-povalikhino) (Holod)
5. Ani Hovhannisyan, Yulia Lukyanova. Victory at any cost- A report on how hundreds of soldiers fell ill whilst rehearsing for a parade on Red Square. (https://www.proekt.media/report/koronavirus-voennye/) (Project)

Interview

1. Alexandra Vladimirova. “Yes, I was a faithful dog”- the main whistleblower of the Russian doping program, Grigory Rodhcenkov, gave Meduza the first Russian interview (Since leaving for the US) (https://meduza.io/feature/2020/08/07/da-ya-byl-vernyy-pes) (Meduza)
2. Ilya Azar. An anti-fascist in shining armor. The story of the defendant in the “Moscow Case” of Yegor Lesnykh, who tried to stop people being beaten up. (https://novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/11/26/82873-antifashist-v-rytsarskih-dospehah) (Novaya Gazeta)
3. Andrei Kozenko. “The news was happening before my eyes”- Interview with Maria Pevchikh, the most mysterious employee of Alexei Navalny. (https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-54204627) (BBC Russian Service)
4. Katerina Gordeeva. 25 years without Listyev. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxMxjtaHk3U)
5. Svetlana Reiter, Sergei Goryashko. “Between the Streams”- the life and rules of Alexei Venediktov. (https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-51844470) (BBC Russian Service)

Documentary

1. Irina Shikhman. Series: Environmental disaster in Kamchatka. A rebellious Khabarovsk. Being beaten up means being beaten up.
2. Alexei Pivovarov. Series: Armenian-Azerbaijani family against the background of war. What makes us cruel? What is behind the Yuri Dmitriev case? The 25th anniversary of the hostage crisis in Budennovsk. Who killed Russian TV star Vlad Listyev?
3. Yuri Dud’. Series: Navalny- an interview after the poisoning. Kamchatka is a forgotten peninsula.
4. Timur Olevsky. Belarus– special daily bulletin from the 10th-17th of August 2020.
5. Sergei Yerzhenkov. Pope of Russia. How the Kremlin tamed Patriarch Kirill with gay scandals and KGB secrets.

Analysis

1. Katya Arenina. How entrepreneurs are judged in Russia. (https://thebell.io/kak-v-rossii-sudyat-predprinimatelej-razbor-the-bell) (The Bell)
2. Ekaterina Mereminskaya. How Norilsk Nickel became the main polluter of the Arctic. (https://www.vtimes.io/2020/09/22/kak-nornikel-stal-glavnym-zagryaznitelem-arktiki-a160) (VTimes)
3. Alexander Chernykh. Cleaver and his team. (https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4493624) (Kommersant)
4. Ilya Budraitskis. The end of the imaginary West. Why did mass protests in the US over the death of George Floyd upset Russians? (https://www.opendemocracy.net/ru/konets-voobrazhayemogo-zapada/) (openDemocracy)
5. Elena Lukyanova. Based on a set of texts. (https://meduza.io/feature/2020/03/23/konstitutsionnyy-cud-odobril-popravki-k-konstitutsii-pochemu-eto-bylo-bolshe-pohozhe-na-spetsoperatsiyu-chem-na-reshenie-suda)

Multimedia/Podcasts

1. Ekaterina Maysheva, Evgeny Malyshev. “Network”- Source codes. Seven stories about anti-fascists who received long sentences for terrorism. The FSB and torture. (7 x 7)
2. Sonya Groisman. “At the epicentre”– A podcast about Russian doctors fighting the coronavirus epidemic. (Project).
3. Anton Utkin, Nata Pokrovskaya. “Who are you?”– An interactive project. (Independent Film Studio Lateral Summer, Novaya Gazeta).
4. Sonya Savina, Gleb Limansky, Polina Uzhvak. “If you leave, I’ll be happy”– Why foster children are increasingly being sent back to orphanages. (iStories)
5. Dmitry Okrest, Alexei Yurtaev. “Isolation”. (Team 29).