The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), a partner in the IJ4EU fund, has unveiled the identities of the jury members presiding over the IJ4EU Impact Awards 2026.
Chaired by Bosnian investigative journalism leader Leila Bičakčić, the jury has chosen three equal winners, each of whom will receive a €5,000 cash prize in recognition of outstanding cross-border investigative journalism in Europe.
The winners will be announced in Budapest on September 17 during UNCOVERED 2026, the latest edition of IJ4EU’s annual conference bringing together investigative journalists, editors, media organisations and supporters of public-interest journalism from across Europe.
UNCOVERED is organised by ECPMF in partnership with the International Press Institute and the European Journalism Centre, its partners in the Investigative Journalism for Europe (IJ4EU) programme.
Here are profiles of the Impact Award jury members.
Leila Bičakčić (chair), co-founder and executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) in Sarajevo, is one of Southeast Europe’s leading investigative journalism and media development experts. Over more than two decades, she has helped build CIN into a leading investigative newsroom in the Balkans, overseeing reporting on corruption, organised crime, judicial accountability and public governance, while also mentoring journalists, leading regional initiatives and serving on grant-selection and evaluation panels.
Maryna Rakhlei leads efforts to strengthen Belarusian civil society and democratic resilience as a senior programme officer at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. As a former journalist with Belarusian independent media, she also brings extensive expertise on authoritarianism, civic movements and the role of independent voices in democratic change.
Can Ertuna, a journalist and associate professor in the Faculty of Communications at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, has reported on wars, uprisings and international conflicts for Turkish and international news organisations. His research focuses on the political economy of media, platform capitalism, and the relationship between war and media.
Oleg Khomenok is senior programme manager at Internews Network and a veteran investigative journalist with experience in training and managing reporting projects across Eastern Europe and Eurasia. He is also on the board of directors of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and chairs the Regional Press Development Institute in Ukraine.
Neus Vidal, executive director of the Seek Initiative, which trains and supports citizens and journalists to carry out investigations in the public interest, completes the jury. A journalist and political scientist, she specialises in access to information laws and media policies. Before joining Seek, she worked at ECPMF, leading the organisation’s monitoring of media freedom violations.