For over three decades, the Lorenzo Natali Prize has celebrated excellence in journalism as the EU’s flagship journalism award, commemorating the former Vice-President of the European Commission, Lorenzo Natali, who strongly promoted and furthered European development policies.
Since its establishment in 1992, the Prize has brought stories about important worldwide issues into focus. It has recognised journalists who bring to light stories on the human impact of climate, digital infrastructure, gender equality, human development, jobs, peace, governance and human rights, among other issues, and this year is no different.
Marking the 32nd year of the award, applications for the 2024 Lorenzo Natali Prize will open on 29 May 2024. We encourage all journalists to apply by submitting an eligible story until 30 June 2024 23:59 CEST.
Entering this competition is the perfect opportunity for you to share your story with the world. Let’s go beyond the headlines!
The Prize at a Glance
Applications are open to entries in any language but should be accompanied by a translation into one of the competition languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese or German.
Entries can take various forms, including written articles, audio-visual content, or multimedia presentations. Detailed information on the terms and conditions can be found in the Prize Rules.
The Lorenzo Natali Prize rewards excellent reporting on the topics of:
Climate, environment and energy
Migration and forced displacement
Prize categories
Best Emerging Journalist Award
Reporting by journalists aged between 18 and 25 at the time of submission and published by a media outlet based in any of the eligible countries. The Best Emerging Journalist Prize also offers a unique training opportunity to equip the winner with the skills required for high-quality journalism.
Investigative Journalism Award
Reporting published by a media outlet based in one of the eligible countries whose objective is to uncover serious issues such as crimes, injustice, corruption, or corporate wrongdoing, and to expose these to the public.
Feature Journalism Award
Reporting published by a media outlet based in one of the eligible countries focusing on entertaining, educating, engaging or informing the audience. This can take an in-depth look at a current event, situation, person or group, and can cover innovations and solutions to current challenges.
Special Award – Photojournalism
Photojournalism work published by a media outlet based in one of the eligible countries in recognition of the impact of visual storytelling in conveying the complex realities of our world. Entries under this category must be single photographs.
Check the list of the eligible coutries.
The winner of each category will receive EUR 10,000 as a prize, and the winner of the Best Emerging Journalist category will also be offered an exciting work experience placement or traineeship with a media partner.
The winners will be announced at the Lorenzo Natali Prize Award Ceremony in Brussels later in 2024.
The Jury
A Grand Jury of internationally renowned journalists and representatives from key non-governmental organisations around the world will choose the winners in each category.
The Jury will be announced soon, so please watch this space to discover the 2024 Grand Jury.
The #NataliPrize Community
The #NataliPrize Community brings together like-minded individuals and entities who share a passion for the issues covered by the Lorenzo Natali Prize. Gathering past winners, Grand Jury Members, strategic regional partners and ambassadors, the Community grows with each edition of the Prize.
Meet the #NataliPrize Community
Past Winners
The Lorenzo Natali Prize has recognised over a hundred journalists since it was launched in 1992.
The 2023 winners were selected from over 700 applications from across the world.
Browse the map to view where the past winners’ work was published.
Who was Lorenzo Natali?
Lorenzo Natali was a Commissioner for Development and a staunch defender of freedom of expression, democracy, human rights and development. He served three terms as one of Italy’s European Commissioners.
Natali played an important role in the EU accession process of Greece, Spain and Portugal. He also helped enact key measures to combat pollution and improve living conditions across Europe. In his final four-year term as Commissioner, from 1985 until 1989, he was handed responsibility for cooperation and development policy in the Commission under President Jacques Delors. It was in this capacity that he set up a broad network of relations with the governments and leaders of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.