Three cross-border investigations shedding light on some of Europe’s most pressing issues—from the rising cost of medicines to attacks on Palestinian journalists and EU-backed migrant expulsions—were honoured at the 2025 IJ4EU Impact Award. The ceremony took place on September 26, in Athens, during the IJ4EU UNCOVERED Conference, held within the iMEdD International Journalism Forum 2025.
In alphabetical order, the winning investigations were:
Deadly Prices, by Investigate Europe and partners NDR, WDR, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Reporters United and Eesti Ekspress, which calculated the cost of critical drugs across nine EU countries, highlighting how pharmaceutical companies exploit opaque pricing and intellectual property rules.
“Deadly Prices is an influential investigation that revealed how pharmaceutical companies exploit Europe’s fragmented pricing system, leaving patients in smaller countries without access to life-saving treatments,” jury member Milosevic said.
The Gaza Project, a consortium of 50 reporters from 13 newsrooms led by Forbidden Stories, which documented patterns of attacks on journalists in Gaza and the West Bank.
“For its methodological rigour under extreme constraints; its innovative use of satellite analysis and photogrammetry; its collaboration across borders and newsrooms; and its commitment to accountability when accountability is hardest, the IJ4EU jury recognises The Gaza Project with an Impact Award,” Caruana Galizia said.
Desert Dumps by Lighthouse Reports, Enass, Inkyfada, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El País, IrpiMedia and Tagesschau, which detailed how EU funds, vehicles and intelligence underpin mass expulsions of migrants into desert areas.
“This investigation changed the debate,” jury member Königer said. “The horrible term ‘desert dump’ has entered the vocabulary of NGOs and policymakers. It reminds us Europeans that the values we invoke must also apply where people are desperately trying to reach their sphere of influence.”
The jury also gave an honourable mention to How an EU-funded security force helped Senegal crush democracy protests, by reporters working with Al Jazeera English and Fundación porCausa.
Watch the IJ4EU Impact Award ceremony
The IJ4EU Impact Award, celebrating cross-border journalism that drives change, was presented for the second consecutive year as part of the iMEdD International Journalism Forum.
The IJ4EU Impact Award is managed by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom in partnership with the other implementing partners of the IJ4EU fund: the International Press Institute, the European Journalism Centre and Arena for Journalism in Europe. IJ4EU is co-funded by the European Commission and philanthropic donors including Adessium Foundation and Fritt Ord Foundation.
