Named after the French journalist and European politician Louise Weiss, the prize was created in 2005 by the French section of the Association of European Journalists, with support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fondation Hippocrène. It is the only European journalism prize created and awarded by professional French-speaking journalists, and aims to encourage more systematic, accessible and original coverage of European affairs, helping to bridge what its founders call “the European divide”. The competition is open to French-speaking journalists who are EU nationals, whatever their medium or status. Since 2023, it has also included a climate category, run in partnership with the European Investment Bank.
In the analysis category, the jury honoured Fabien Perrier and Taina Tervonen for Passeurs malgré eux (“Smugglers in spite of themselves”), published in La Revue dessinée. The piece stems from Criminal Captains, a cross-border investigation supported in 2022 through Journalismfund Europe’s European Cross-border Grants programme. The investigation examined how hundreds of people who steered migrant boats across the Mediterranean and the Channel have been prosecuted as people smugglers. Based on cases in France, Greece, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom, it shows how police and courts, supported by Frontex, systematically criminalise those who are easiest to catch, regardless of their actual role in the smuggling network or whether they earned anything from it. One of them, a young Syrian named Abdalla Jaloul, was sentenced to 187 years in prison after the boat he was driving sank off the Greek island of Syros, killing 18 passengers. His only “payment” had been a free crossing; the organiser, who had collected money from every passenger, was never charged. The investigation reveals the complex reality behind convictions that many politicians present as proof of effective border control.
In the environment and climate category, the prize was awarded jointly to Raphaëlle Aubert for her collective investigation Artificialisation : comment l’Europe vire du vert au gris (“How Europe is turning from green to grey”), published in Le Monde, and to Fabien Marchesini Dufau for a report broadcast on 2050NOW. Aubert’s article is part of Green to Grey, the first investigation of its kind, in which 41 journalists and scientists from 11 countries used satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to measure the loss of nature across Europe. They found that between 2018 and 2023, Europe lost approximately 9,000 km² of nature and cropland to construction, an area the size of Cyprus, and that undeveloped land is disappearing up to 1.5 times faster than official estimates suggest. The team also identified more than 150,000 instances of construction on protected land. The project was initiated by Arena for Journalism in Europe and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), working with scientists from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), and was supported through Journalismfund Europe’s Earth Investigations programme. Its methodology also led to a peer-reviewed article in Nature Communications in April 2026.
The jury, chaired by Véronique Auger, deliberated on 7 September 2026 at the Fondation Hippocrène. The award ceremony will take place on 4 December.
Journalismfund Europe warmly congratulates all the laureates.
