PRIZES FOR BEST DUTCH JOURNALISM OF 2009 PRESENTED IN THE NIEUWE KERK IN THE HAGUE

THE HAGUE – On Tuesday evening, Tegels [Tiles] were presented to the best journalists of the year for the fourth year in succession. Prizes for the best journalistic work of 2009 were awarded to journalists from De Twentsche Courant Tubantia, Trouw, Zembla, Netwerk and Ondertussen in Nederland.

Radio journalists from Argos and Holland Doc Radio were also among the prizewinners, as was the multi-media project Beagle: In het kielzog van Darwin ['Beagle: In Darwin's Wake']. The jury evaluated 269 entries submitted in eight categories under the guidance of Jozias van Aartsen, Dutch politician and Mayor of The Hague.

According to the jury, the level of print and television media entries was again very high. The number of high-quality entries from regional and local media was also particularly satisfying. Reporter Lucien Baard from the newspaper De Twentsche Courant Tubantia won the Print News category with a series on the affair surrounding the former neurologist Ernst Jansen Steur. Laura van Baars, Wilma van Meteren, Onno Havermans and Cees van der Laan from De Trouw were awarded a prize for their six-part series of background stories, Red het platteland ['Save the Countryside'].

Zembla
The Zembla broadcast De Q-koorts epidemie ['The Q Fever Epidemic'] by Ton van der Ham and Manon Blaas won in the Television News category. Television makers Kees Vlaanderen, Huib Schoonhoven and Karen Kuiper received Tegels in the Background category for their HUMAN documentary De kleine oorlog van boer Kok ['Farmer Kok's Small War'] part of the Ondertussen in Nederland ['Meanwhile in the Netherlands'] series.

Argos
Argos editors Suzan Borst and Irene Houthuis received Tegels for their news report Corporatie in crisis: SGBB ['Corporation in Crisis: SGBB']. This enthralling radio report about a Hoofddorp-based housing corporation in financial problems won the Radio News category. Freelancer Christine Steinhäuser from Holland Doc Radio went home with a Tegel for her radio documentary Made in GDR. In the Online category, several journalists were awarded Tegels for their collaborative work on Beagle: In het kielzog van Darwin ['Beagle: In Darwin's Wake'], a multi-media project by Dutch and Belgian broadcasting corporations VPRO, Teleac and VRT. Reporter Hans van der Steeg from Netwerk won the F.W. Sijthoff Tegel for journalistic talent. He created a three-part series De Zeepfabriek ['The Soap Factory'] for the EO broadcasting corporation's programme Netwerk about the demise of the soap manufacturer Cosmara.

The Tegels were presented on Tuesday evening in the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague.