The Georgiy Gongadze Prize Committee has determined the shortlist of nominees for the 2024 award. It includes three women: investigative journalist Anna Babinets, Kyiv Independent editor-in-chief Olga Rudenko and journalist and producer Tetyana Troshchynska.
Last year, three male journalists became finalists. Women in Media initiated a discussion about the gender imbalance of the prize, as over the years, only one woman has been nominated.
“My Women in Media colleagues, I once promised during discussions that I would make efforts, and this year it has become more noticeable”, said Larysa Denysenko, one of the jury members and participants of the “Women in Media” network.
The finalists this year are:
- Anna Babinets is an investigative journalist, co-founder, and editor-in-chief of the independent investigative agency Slidstvo.Info. Additionally, she serves as a regional editor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). In 2014, along with her colleagues, she co-founded an initiative called YanukovychLeaks. She is also a co-author of the international project Panama Papers, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2017 in the category of Explanatory Journalism.
- Olga Rudenko is the editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent. In 2016, she joined the Kyiv Post as an editor and has been published in several esteemed international publications. In 2021, when the new owner of the Kyiv Post decided to terminate all staff, journalists rallied to create the Kyiv Independent, which has since become a leading English-speaking publication about Ukraine. In 2022, TIME named Olga Rudenko the leader of the next generation.
- Tetyana Troshchynska is the director of the Department of Strategic Analysis and Development of Socially Influential Content at Suspilne. She is also a producer of the socio-political talk show “Novyi Vidlik”, a journalist for Hromadske Radio, and a radio host for Radio Kultura. From 2018 to 2024, she held the position of head editor at Hromadske Radio. In addition to her editorial roles, she has created live shows and personal projects such as “Love Doesn’t Disappear”, “40 is the New 20”, “We Arranged Everything”, and “A Wave with a Trail”. Tetyana also conducts trainings in strategic crisis communication, conflict management, and the development of communication and media skills.
The winner of the Prize will be traditionally announced on May 21, George Gongadze’s birthday.
George Gongadze Prize is one of the most prominent journalistic awards in Ukraine. The award was founded in 2019 by PEN Ukraine in partnership with George Gongadze’s family, the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, and Ukrainska Pravda. Winners of the Prize in previous years were mainly men: Vakhtang Kipiani (2019), Pavlo Kazarin (2020), Myroslava Barchuk (2021), Yevhen Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov (2022) and Bohdan Lohvynenko (2023). In 2022, the Special prize was posthumously awarded to the photojournalist Maks Levin.
According to a recent study by Women in Media, “Gender Balance in Decision-Making in Ukraine’s Media Organizations” women hold 41% of relevant leadership positions. However, the ultimate beneficiary of media content is men, according to 38% of surveyed editorial teams. In editorial teams where leadership positions are held by more than two people, there is a potential risk of exacerbating gender imbalance.
The size of editorial teams not only affects gender representation but also the workload on female leaders. In small teams, the same person often holds multiple leadership positions due to a shortage of personnel and resources in the media industry. Some respondents indicated that low incomes in the media industry lead to predominantly female editorial teams and their assumption of leadership roles.