"Caucasian Knot" is laureate of Gerd Bucerius Prize for journalism

The "Caucasian Knot" Internet Edition has become a laureate of the prestigious international journalistic Prize named after Gerd Bucerius.

On June 21, the Nobel Institute in Oslo will host the ceremony of awarding the Bucerius Prize. The Prize, named in honour of the well-known German lawyer, journalist and publisher Gerd Bucerius, was founded by the Bucerius Foundation of the Zeit weekly in 1999 and is awarded since 2000.

The Prize laureates may be both mass media and individual journalists from the countries of Eastern Europe who stand in support of the freedoms of press and speech, and of the liberal civil society.

By promoting the independent Eastern European mass media, the Bucerius Foundation continues the traditions of its founder. This year, the award winners are mass media representatives of three countries - Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan.

The total sum of rewarding payments will make 130,000 euros. The "Deutsche Welle" Radio reports that the "Caucasian Knot" Internet Edition is one of this year's laureates.

The "Caucasian Knot" is an independent information online agency, which is covering on the round-the-clock basis the events in 19 regions of Northern and Southern Caucasus, namely in Abkhazia, Adzharia, Adygea, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Astrakhan Region, Volgograd Region, Georgia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Territory, Nagorno-Karabakh, Rostov Region, Russian Federation, North Ossetia-Alania, Northern Caucasus as a whole, Stavropol Territory, Chechnya and South Ossetia, and the South Federal District (SFD).

According to Gregory Shvedov, editor-in-chief of the edition, the ethical code of the "Caucasian Knot," on the one hand, proclaims the principles of the international journalism - such as impartiality, differentiation among news and comments, - and on the other hand, informs about the facts, which are not covered, as a rule, by the majority of Russian mass media, or covered not always authentically.

The "Caucasian Knot" gives special attention to such topics like violations of human rights, situation in armed conflict zones, discrimination on religious and ethnic motives, and also to problems of refugees.

Gregory Shvedov emphasizes that the correspondents of the edition work not only in Chechnya but also in all the countries of the Caucasian region, including in non-recognized states of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The editor-in-chief of the edition specifies that the unbiased coverage of the events in the region causes great discontent of local authorities. "Our publications lead to public condemnation, prosecution of our journalists and to cracking our server," Gregory Shvedov explains.

The latest server cracking took place a couple of years ago, however, according to the journalist, the "Caucasian Knot" is permanently facing this sort of attempts to paralyse the work of the edition.

In his interview to the "Deutsche Welle" Gregory Shvedov said that the employees of the edition see the main value of the Bucerius Prize, first of all, in the fact of their recognition.

"It is very important that highly esteemed editions are taking part in nomination, which indicates that our work is assessed at the level of international standards.

It is our first prize of this sort, therefore, we believe it to be a recognition of the proper quality of our materials," Mr Shvedov has stated.

He has also noted that cooperation with foreign mass media has always given them strong moral encouragement, showing the demand for the materials prepared by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondents.