George Gongadze Prize

- commitment to the principles and values of independent journalism;
- professionalism and competence;
- innovation;
- a significant contribution to the development of a particular genre or media environment as a whole;
- creation of materials that have led to the solution or understanding of certain problems in society and changes in the country.

* Only journalists working in Ukraine who have remained in the profession for the last 5 years can apply for the Prize.

The George Gongadze Prize is awarded once a year on May 21, George Gongadze's birthday. The winner is awarded a statuette, diploma and award in the amount of 100 thousand UAH .

The Chapter of the Prize consists of 9 people. Regardless of the year, the Chapter includes a Gongadze family member, the president of PEN Ukraine, representatives of Ukrayinska Pravda, the Alumni Association of the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School and the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, and last year's laureate. Six representatives of the Chapter are responsible for inviting three additional members to be elected from among Ukrainian media experts, media managers, moral authorities and leading intellectuals. Invited members of the Chapter may be members of the Chapter for no more than 3 years.

The Chapter of the 2025 Prize included:

• Myroslava Gongadze, journalist, media manager, expert on security and democracy in Eastern Europe
• Volodymyr Yermolenko, President of PEN Ukraine, philosopher, writer, journalist
• Lev Zhydenko, Prize patron, co-founder of the Aurora retail chain
• Pavlo Kazarin, 2020 Gongadze Prize laureate, journalist, Master Sergeant of the 2nd Battalion of Unmanned Systems, 104th Brigade
• Serhiy Kvit, President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
• Dmytro Lykhovii, officer of the Strategic Communications Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, journalist
• Ivan Liubysh-Kirdey, Reuters cameraman, recipient of the Order of Merit, 2nd and 3rd Class, 2025 Georgiy Gongadze Prize laureate
• Sevgil Musaieva, Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda
• Oksana Romaniuk, Director of the Institute of Mass Information (IMI)

The winner is determined in three stages. At the first stage, the members of the Chapter propose candidates with a short written justification. In the second stage, the members of the Chapter vote for a short list of nominees. In the third stage, voting for the winner takes place.

* The prize may be revoked by the members of the Chapter , and the laureate will be deprived of his status if he commits an act contrary to the ethical and professional norms of journalism.

Laureates of 2026: Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of The Kyiv Independent Olha Rudenko and Head of the Investigations Department at Ukrainska Pravda Mykhailo Tkach.

Finalist of 2026: Marian Kushnir.

Laureate of 2025: journalist Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey.

Finalists of 2025: Olga Rudenko, Mykhailo Tkach.

Laureate of 2024: journalist, producer, radio host Tetyana Troshchynska.

Finalists of 2024: Anna Babinets, Olga Rudenko.

Laureate of 2023: journalist Bohdan Lohvynenko.

Finalists of 2023: Andriy Dubchak, Serhiy Sydorenko.

Laureate of 2022: journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeny Maloletka.

Finalists of 2022: Serhiy Sydorenko, Tetyana Troshchynska.

Laureate of 2021: journalist, host of the "Countdown" program Myroslava Barchuk.

Finalists of 2021: Borys Davydenko, Marichka Paplauskaite.

Laureate of 2020 : publicist, radio and TV presenter Pavlo Kazarin .

Finalists of 2020: Roman Vintonov, Bohdan Logvynenko.

Laureate of 2019: Founder of "Istorychna pravda" publication (Historical Truth), Press Archive Museum Vakhtang Kipiani.

Finalists of 2019: Serhiy Rakhmanin, Taras Prokopyshyn.

In addition to the award ceremony, it includes a speech on George Gongadze and a lecture on the challenges facing freedom of speech in Ukraine and around the world today.

Twiga Ukraine