Journalism|The local-regional Snow Shovel award goes to Nya Åland journalist Michael Hancock.
Investigating the journalism association’s national Snow Shovel Award has been awarded to a journalist from Helsingin Sanomat Paavo Teittinen and for the group’s collection of stories about an Iraqi man who lives freely in Vantaa, even though he had been sentenced to prison in Iraq for the hired murder of his wife. The Perfect Escape article published in Helsingin Sanomat on September 30, 2023.
The collection of stories was created as an international collaboration with Norwegian journalists from Verdens Gang and Namdalsavisa.
“In the story, information acquisition has been used extensively and efforts have been made to make revelations. The whole is thorough investigative journalism. The revelations of the internationally compiled story were accompanied by a perceptive visual reportage,” the justification for the Lumilapio award says.
“The investigative article presented a previously hidden problem, i.e. the stay of a man convicted abroad in Finland in the gray area of the law, which started to be addressed in Finland. Both the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior took a stand on the matter. After the case, both Norway and Finland launched investigations by politicians and authorities about how to act in relation to the man and how similar cases would be dealt with in the future”, the reasons continue.
National In addition to the Snow Shovel Award, the Snow Shovel Award for local-regional investigative journalism was awarded on Thursday evening, which went to the editor of the Nya Åland magazine Michael Hancock From his articles published on September 6 and 8, 2023. They told how a doctor convicted in Sweden of possession of child pornography was able to continue working in Finland, even though he had been deprived of his medical rights in Sweden.
“Writing the article awakened the Swedish-language media in Finland to the topic, and the story produced many follow-up stories. The merits of the story are the good follow-up of a local story, through which, through precise research work, the excavation work led to basic social questions: how well do we know the backgrounds of people working in healthcare and how easy is it to keep a doctor’s license in Finland compared to Sweden? By actively contacting the authorities, the context of the case expanded to the whole of Finland and Valvira. The selection committee notes that the story is a good indication of the emergence of a local-level investigative story as a news topic in the national media and, more broadly, as an opener for societal discussion,” the award justifications say.
Snow shovelin addition to the awards, the Association of Investigative Journalism awarded the Jääraappa award, which is awarded in recognition of the promotion of openness in society. It was received by a reporter from Helsingin Sanomat Susanna Reinboth.
“For more than a decade, Susanna Reinboth has managed to persistently challenge the authorities for more open operations. He has made numerous complaints to the court, where last year they were successful no less than nine times. In addition to the fact that Reinboth changes the operating culture of the authorities one decision at a time, he also offers help with the interpretation of the Publicity Act and his complaint expertise to his colleagues as well,” the award justification states.