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Credit: The European School of Oncology
9 July 2007 - Pawel Walewski, health editor with Poland’s biggest selling weekly magazine Polityka, has been awarded the European School of Oncology’s Best Cancer Reporter Award for 2007. The Award was established by the European School of Oncology (ESO) in 2006 to encourage better quality media coverage of cancer and recognise the many examples of outstanding cancer reporting by journalists across Europe.
The standard of this year’s entries was very high, with nominations received for journalists from Belgium, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Walewski, who will receive a prize of €10,000, said he felt honoured to be given this Award “I have been writing about oncology and cancer survivors for ten years but every time I sit at my computer or reach for a pen I have a dilemma: how to reconcile competent information, based on facts and science. I am delighted the judging panel recognised it as the important issue.”
Linda Geddes a correspondent with the New Scientist magazine and Maria Valerio Sainz who writes for the online version of Spanish newspaper El Mundo were joint runners up and will receive a prize of €5,000 each. When told that she had received a Best Cancer Reporter Award Geddes said that “It is good to know that this kind of investigative health reporting is still valued and rewarded. I hope I have helped to raise awareness of the desperation some cancer patients feel, and the need for their doctors to listen to them and help them make the right decisions for their health.”
Sainz flagged the important role that journalists play in educating the public about cancer and said “I think that journalists have an important social responsibility, even more so when talking about health and illness…I feel that we should show the human courage of all those who live and survive a tumour… that's why I try to use a simple language, a human tone, far from unrealistic expectations and false alarms.”
A further two journalists were specially commended by the Best Cancer Reporter Award jury for the courage in writing their own cancer story in order to raise awareness about the challenges faced daily by cancer patients: Eric Baumann of Tages–Anzeiger, Switzerland and Iva Skochova from the Prague Post, Czech Republic.
The journalists will be presented with their prizes at a ceremony that will take place during ESO’s forthcoming media event Cancer: Time for a Reality Check that will be held on Friday October 26 2007 in Rome, Italy.
In order to further promote excellence in cancer journalism ESO is pleased to announce the launch of its Cancer Media Service (CMS) at www.cancerworld.org/mediaservice. By setting up this Service ESO hopes to encourage more intelligent and critical coverage of cancer and to cultivate a more positive but realistic image of cancer. The CMS will provide a range of useful information and resources for journalists writing cancer stories and details about ESO events targeted at journalists interested in learning more about cancer. Details about how to nominate someone for the 2008 Best Cancer Reporter Award can be found on the CMS Website.
Notes: The winning articles will be reproduced in ESO’s magazine Cancer World
About the award: The Best Cancer Reporter Award is an original initiative of the European School of Oncology and is funded by private donors. Established in 2006, the award was created to honour and reward the most challenging and insightful reporting on cancer. The Best Cancer Reporter Award judging panel consists of leading journalists and figures from the European cancer community. The 2007 judging panel included Sarah Boseley (The Guardian, UK), Franco Cavalli (International Union Against Cancer, Switzerland), Alberto Costa (ESO, Italy), Michaela Geissler (European Cancer Patient Coalition, Germany), Gordon McVie (European Institute of Cancer, Italy), Istvan Palugyai,(European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations, Hungary) and Kathy Redmond (Cancer World, Italy).
About ESO: ESO is an independent, non-profit organisation that is dedicated to improving the care and treatment that cancer patients receive. The School was founded in 1982 with the aim of reducing deaths from cancer due to late diagnosis and inadequate treatment. Over the past 25 years it has grown into one of the most important providers of cancer education for physicians, nurses, patient advocates and the media worldwide. Further information about the School is available from www.cancerworld.org