The 2026 Witnesses of History Award goes to journalist Marianna Aprile

Promoted and organized by NEM Nord-Est Multimedia in collaboration with the Order of Journalists of Friuli Venezia Giulia, curated by Francesca Fresa, Link Media Festival will welcome over 70 Italian and international voices from journalism, investigation, science, economics, TV and geopolitics: three days to address a broad analysis of the global challenges of our time. Among the arriving protagonists, the journalist Marianna Aprile stands out, to whom the 15th edition of the Crédit Agricole Testimoni della Storia Award goes, promoted on the initiative of Crédit Agricole Italia by Link Media Festival with pordenonelegge.

The reasons for the award underline that «Marianna Aprile, for her ability to combine analytical rigor and a distinctive stylistic code, imposes herself in the panorama of contemporary information as an authoritative and necessary voice and stands out for an incisive language and a never banal reading of the facts. An example of professional excellence capable of speaking with charisma to both critics and civil society.”

The 2026 Crédit Agricole Testimoni della Storia Award will be awarded on the inaugural day of the festival, Friday 10 April, at 6.30 pm, in the Link Arena: the winner will then be the protagonist of a conversation with Paolo Possamai, managing director of the NEM newspapers, Nord Est Multimedia. The next day, Saturday 11 April, at 11.30 am, Marianna Aprile will present the brand new essay La Promise at the festival. From women’s suffrage to the first woman at Palazzo Chigi, the story of an incomplete revolution, to be released on 7 April by Rizzoli, in a conversation conducted by Paolo Mosanghini, co-director of the newspaper Messaggero Veneto.

«Since the first edition of the Link Media Festival we have shared the organizers’ vision of promoting quality journalism – declared Crédit Agricole Italia – The meaning of this recognition is to make our commitment even more legible and concrete by bringing to the public’s attention reference figures who, due to their professionalism and personality, can be considered privileged witnesses of our time».

The “Witness of History” Marianna Aprile will also be given a Thaler from Empress Maria Teresa of Austria, a symbolic representation of the Award and a symbol of union between European peoples: the Thaler was in fact a point of reference for the unified monetary system of all the states of the Habsburg Empire following the Vienna Convention signed in 1753. A precious wish, in a time in which the peaceful coexistence of peoples is put to the test by ongoing conflicts.

Marianna Aprile, journalist, author and presenter of radio and TV programmes, graduated in Anthropology from La Sapienza University of Rome and has worked at the weekly Oggi since 2010. He has signed important exclusives and is head of service in the central office. For television she was the author and presenter of the Rai 3 political talk Millennium (2014) and hosted the Forrest program on Rai Radio1 together with Luca Bottura. Since 2022 he has hosted InOnda with Luca Telese on LA7, both in its summer version and in its Sunday prime time version (from 2023). It was with Luca Telese that he co-wrote the book Resistant Materials. Doing the right thing in a changing country, published by Piemme. In 2019 she published Il grande inganno, again for Piemme, on the relationship between women and Italian politics, then in 2021 the novel In balia for La nave di Teseo. From April 7th he returns to bookstores with the new essay published by Rizzoli, The Promise. From women’s suffrage to the first woman at Palazzo Chigi, the story of an incomplete revolution.

Link Media Festival is promoted by Gruppo NEM Nord-Est Multimedia, Il NordEst and Il Piccolo with the Order of Journalists – Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Council, with the co-organization of the Municipality of Trieste and PromoTurismo FVG, with the contribution of Fondazione CRTrieste and the patronage of RAI and the National Council of the Order of Journalists. Media partner Rai Radio 3, Rai Documentari and Rai FVG, main partner Generali, partner Mundys, supporter Crédit Agricole Italia. Technical partners Libreria Ubik Trieste, Pintaudi, Specogna, Trieste Trasporti, Nonino, Illy, with the collaboration of Fake News Festival (Info and program details: linkfestival.it).