Meet the people behind the choice for the best investigative stories in the Western Balkans and Türkiye
As the national ceremonies for the EU Investigative Journalism Awards 2025 take place, we are proud to present the members of the jury responsible for evaluating the entries in the regional category. Regional awards were first introduced in 2023 with the goal of recognising investigative stories that exceed national borders and topics and deal with issues that have regional importance and impact.
The Awards shine a spotlight on outstanding investigative reporting, foster cross-border collaboration, and raise the bar for investigative journalism across the Western Balkans and Türkiye. This year, a record 284 submissions were received, with 79 contending for the regional prize.
The first regional jury member is Barbara Matejčić, an award-winning freelance journalist, non-fiction writer, editor, researcher and audio producer focused on social affairs and human rights in the Balkan region. She was honoured with several awards, among them European Press Prize (2024, and she was the European Press Prize finalist in 2021), Investigative Journalism for Europe award (IJ4EU, 2024), the Croatian Journalists’ Association award as the best print journalist in Croatia (2014) and best radio journalist (2025). She lectures at the Journalism Studies at University of VERN’ in Zagreb, and writes for Croatian and international media and produces multimedia projects.
The second jury member is Barçın Yinanç an independent journalist with over 30 years of experience covering Turkey’s foreign policy and international relations. She is a foreign policy analyst for T24 and contributes to outlets including TurkeyinDepth and TurkeyAnalyst, while also providing TV commentary. Previously, she was opinion editor at Hürriyet Daily News and a news program editor at CNN Türk. Beginning her career as a diplomatic reporter in Ankara, she has spoken and moderated at UN and think tank events such as the German Marshall Fund, Chatham House, and Warsaw Security Forum. She is a member of the Diplomatic Reporters Association, Women in Foreign Policy Platform, and Global Relations Forum, and serves on the boards of UİK, EDAM, and the Berlin Bosphorus Initiative.
Tihomir Loza is the third and final regional jury member. He is the executive director of SEENPM, a network of 19 media organisations in Central and Southeast Europe, where he has led major media research and development projects. He previously served as deputy director of Transitions, managing the organisation’s information verification projects in the Balkans. A native of Bosnia, Loza worked as a writer and editor for outlets including Oslobođenje and Naši dani, and was Balkans editor at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in London. He contributed as a producer to the BBC/Discovery documentary series The Death of Yugoslavia and The Fall of Milošević. He is also president of the board of governors of the Humanitarian Law Centre (FHP) in Belgrade.
The jury members will be announcing the winners together with the best investigative stories in Kosovo at the award ceremony in Pristina on 26 November 2025. The regional award fund is 10,000 euros, distributed as 5,000 euros for first place, 3,000 euros for second, and 2,000 euros for third. The EU Award for Investigative Journalism 2025 is part of the project “Strengthening Quality Journalism in Western Balkans and Türkiye II”, marking the final year of the initiative.
The project is funded by the European Union, and it is implemented by a consortium composed of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN Hub, Central European University (CEU) – Hungary, Association of Journalists (AJ) – Türkiye, Thomson Media (TM) – Germany, University Goce Delcev Stip (UGD) – North Macedonia, The Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) – North Macedonia, Media Association of South-East Europe (MASE) – Montenegro and Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Kosovo (BIRN Kosovo).
