Lilla Journalistpriset Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Foto: Ylwa Yngvesson

For the tenth year in a row, Dagens Nyheter's and Expressen's Mediecenter will give out the Lilla Journalistpriset - the Junior Journalist Award - to the country's best school newspapers and magazines at the junior high and high school level. Since 2001, more than 500 school editorial teams from all over Sweden have taken part and competed. This year, an additional publication has been nominated in each category - print, web and special mention - for junior high as well as high school. A total of 16 publications are nominated for the prizes, which will be awarded at a ceremony on May 25.

The 10th anniversary will be celebrated with an especially festive awards ceremony at Stockholm's venerable amusement park, Gröna Lund. 

"We wanted to do something extra this year and we could invite anyone who wanted to come, even if they weren't nominated for a prize," says Erik Sjögren, project manager for the Lilla Journalistpriset. "So we found a partner in Gröna Lund. So far nearly 700 school editors from the entire country have registered to attend."

The idea is to create a gala atmosphere at the amusement park's main stage.

"We'll also have a mini news desk in the area with journalists from both DN and Expressen and their different divisions," says Sjögren. "The school editors can discuss journalism, ask questions and mingle there."

Entertainment journalist Annika Leone, Dagens Nyheter's sports colunist Johan Esk, previous overseas correspondent Georg Cederskog and Stockholm reporter Ulrika By are some of the journalists taking part.

"It feels special to be celebrating 10 years with the Lilla Journalistpriset," says Sjögren. "When we started, in 2001/2002, it felt more like a one-time thing that we were doing on a temporary basis. Personally, I wasn't even sure that there were school newspapers in the countryside. But since then it's grown and now the schools practically demand that we continue with the contest since it's become a regular part of media studies."

You can see all the nominated newspapers here (in Swedish).