Andrada Lăutaru, Willemijn Sneep and Zuza Nazaruk have been nominated for the Golden Freelancer Award for their investigation The Price of Clean Streets. The award, organized by the Amsterdam-based freelance collective Bureau Wibaut, recognises the best journalistic production by freelancers from the past two years. Other nominees include productions published by de Volkskrant, NRC and Omroep Zwart.
The winner will be announced by a professional jury on 6 November 2026 during The Golden Freelancer symposium, which this year focuses on the theme 'Power and Couterpower': how the press and freelancers stand up to large publishers an political power.
This investigation examines how EU citizens can still be deported from one EU country to another, despite the principle of free movement. It focuses on homeless migrants from Eastern Europe in the Netherlands. Most deportation cases are initiated on the grounds of 'causing a nuisance', which disproportionately affects people from Poland and Romania.
The journalists investigated the legal basis, effectiveness and consequences of this controversial policy. This included looking into concerns that it shifts responsibility for homelessness to migrants' countries of origin, as well as questions over its effectiveness given that deported EU citizens can return under free-movement rules.
The investigation involved interviews with migration lawyers, the relevant authorities in the Netherlands, Poland and Romania, NGOs, and homelessness experts. The team accompanied the authorities on monitoring rounds in Rotterdam and visited homeless shelters and rehabilitation centres in all three countries. They also interviewed more than 30 homeless people, including five who had been deported, and examined three deportation notices.
More info: bureauwibaut.nl
