Overall winner
Pia Heinemann from Germany won the Research, Science and Treatment category for her article published in Welt Am Sonntag about the need for gene testing to prevent many cancer patients from having unnecessary chemotherapy. The judges were impressed that she had written about a complex and important subject in such an accessible manner.
They decided she should be the overall winner.
Patient and Carer Experience category winner
The winner in the Patient and Carer Experience category was Pauline Kairu for her patient-centred investigation into the state of cancer care in Kenya for the Daily Nation newspaper.
Policy, Services and Affordability category
The winner in the Policy, Services and Affordability category was Suman Naishadham for her article “Cancer with no pain meds? The tragedy of India’s painkiller shortage”, published on the website The Influence.
Prevention category winner
The winner in the Prevention category was Duanduan Yuan, a health and environmental journalist for Southern Weekly in China. The judges commended her responsible investigation into the alleged link between baby powder use and ovarian cancer.
Special commendation
As well as recognising the four category winners, the judging panel gave a special commendation to a group of entrants who had used funding from JournalismFund.eu (www.journalismfund.eu) to carry out an impressive cross-border investigation into why cancer patients in Eastern European countries often cannot afford the newest therapies and the role of the EU in setting the drug prices. These highly commended journalists are: Eric Breitinger (Switzerland), Aleksandra Jolkina (Latvia), Stanimir Vaglenov (Bulgaria), Cristian Niculescu (Romania), David Leloup (Belgium) and Dimitra Triantafillou (Greece).
