There has been much deliberation over who should make the shortlist for Open Russia’s Journalism as a Profession award. However, our expert panel has chosen 30 publications from three hundred applications, dividing the contribution type into six categories. The Journalism as a Profession award intends to redefine the roll of journalism in Russia. The quality, validity and scope of journalism under Vladimir Putin’s rule has been severely limited.

State-owned media dominates public discourse and independent journalists risk their lives when reporting on anything that contradicts state narratives. Resultantly, journalism has lost its prestigious position in society. Journalism as a Profession seeks to change this perception in Russia. Those publications that have made it onto our short list are audacious not only in terms not only of content quality but content diversity as well.

The Shortlist:

Report/Panaroma report

• Shura Burtin: The head of the Grozny Memorial Oyub Titiev is being tried on drug charges. Published in Meduza.
• Andrei Sharan: Real, Northern and Predatory. Published in Bird in flight.
• Olesya Gerasimenko: Alien “War”: The art group that quarreled with Europe is now waiting for help from Russia. Published by the Russian BBC service
• Ivan Zhikin: Let’s get our money together for Deripaska, as much as we can. Published in Novaya Gazeta
• Sergey Nosov: Election Day. http://civicforum.ru/blog/2018/04/20/beldyazhki-den-vyborov-film/. Published in non-for-profit news agency Tsentrrus.

Investigative journalism

• Katerina Gordeeva, Roman Super: The Case of Teatralnaya. Published on YouTube.
• Roman Dobroxotov: The Salisbury Reports. Four parts (1) (2) (3) (4) all published on the Insider.
• Denis Korotkov: The Case of the Pipeline. Published on ru.
• Sergey Erzhenkov: Who is Putin’s Spiritual Adviser? Published on TV Rain.
• Mikhail Rubin, Maria Zholobova, Roman Badanin. The Bean King. Published in Projekt.

Opinion pieces

• Alexander Chyornykh: Very Scary Case. Published in Kommersant.
• Andrei Shapran: Published in LES.
• Polina Yefimova: It is a shame that he didn’t die earlier. Published in Takie Dela.
• Constantin Gaaze: What is Putin’s fourth election going to look like? Published in The Carnegie Moscow Center.
• Andrei Arkhangelsky: How Ordinary People Dance. Published in the Insider.

New media

• Anton Merkurov: Satoshi FM. The First Crypto Radio.
• Olga Alferova: I’m over it. A special project about domestic abuse; It’s all rather complicated – an interactive film. Published through Takiye Dela.
• Mikhail Shubin: On a magnet or in the ground: How the Russian Anonymous Marketplace is set up. Published in Diskurs.
• Margerita Loginova: Without security guards she’s giving birth in handcuffs. Published in Batenka, yes you’re a transformer.

Interview with photos

• Ilya Zhegulev: Had glasnost not happened, Solozhetsyn would still be chopping wood in Vermont. An interview with Mikhail Gorbachev about Yeltsin, Putin and love. Published in Meduza.
• Aleksander Golovin: Irina Rodnina: My daughter has been living in America since 1990s. So what? Published on ru
• Olesya Geresimenko: „I am the perfect Russian person“. Face the rapper: from „Burgers“ to Mandelstam. Published on BBC Russian Service.
• Taisiya Bekbulatova: The Dissident who became Russians an idol for Putin. The entire story of Gleb Pavlovsky, the person who invented the current conception of the Russian state. Published in Meduza.
• Yuri Dud’: Tolokonnikova – bisexuality, FACE and prison. Published in vDud’

Regional Publications

• Denis Bevz: Tales from Narym. Published in Realii in Siberia.
• Anna Yarovaya: Rewriting Stalin Terror in Sandarmokh. Published in 7×7.
• Mikhail Danilovich: “There are no places left, so call please.“ About the system for helping homeless people in the Perm Region. Published on ru Perm online.
• Daria Nevzorova, Maria Shramenko: The Children’s Home of Horrors: orphaned boys talk about rape in in the Sub-Chelyabinsk. Published in 74,ru Chelyabinsk Online.
• Yelena Saprygina: Why I am religious. Broadcasted on Tomskoe Vremya.

The ceremony for the Journalism as a Profession award will take place on the evening of 24 November as part of Open Russia’s Russia vs. Putin conference. If you would like to attend, you can do so through the following link. Registration for the conference and award ceremony closes on 26 October.