Bureau Local team wins prestigious Innovation award at the European Press Prize
Bureau Local celebrates its first year with a European Press Prize (EPP), receiving the Innovation Award.
The premise of the Bureau Local project was to found and build up an unprecedented community network, made up of more than 650 journalists, techies and other interested citizens across the UK. This network then collaborates with us on data-driven investigations.
The EPP celebrated the project and the network for “challenging the current boundaries of journalism”. Thomas Van Neerbos, director of the EPP, said of the award that there was a “need for a Bureau Local in every country”.
The award highlighted the importance of local journalism, collaboration and making information not just available, but truly accessible to as many people as possible.
Bureau Local's recent hack day took place in five cities, including London
We welcome the award as an acknowledgement that behind every national story there are local people who are affected. It is essential to empower these communities to share their own stories.
Again, a huge thanks goes to the network for sharing our belief that local journalism is essential to engaging communities and holding power to account at every level - and for proving that collaboration is the future of journalism.
All nominees for the award produced inspiring journalism, making their societies fairer and more transparent.
And as journalists in eastern European countries face increasing difficulties, it was appropriate that the event took place in Budapest, on the eve of Hungary's Press Freedom Day - also the anniversary of its revolution.
