Estonia

2021

In March 2021, the winners of the competition “Journalism Awards 2020” of the Estonian Association of Media Companies were announced. It included several employees and periodicals of Ekspress Grupp:

The journalists of Ekspress Meedia received the three highest press awards granted by the Estonian Association of Media Companies. Holger Roonemaa from the investigative editorial staff of Ekspress Meedia was named as the journalist of the year, Greete Lehepuu from Eesti Ekspress was named as the young journalist and Rein Raudvere from Maaleht received the lifetime award.
In the category of opinion articles in national newspapers, Ann-Marii Nergi received the award for her article published in Eesti Päevalehe LP on 4 July “JOURNALIST’S OPINION | Ann-Marii Nergi: A Prison Sentence for Covering a Court Hearing? Please Let Us Object!“, where she wrote about how journalists are excluded from important court hearings using a legal pretext which courts willingly use, and for the article published in Delfi Ärileht on 4 December titled “The Victory of the Press. The Decision of the Riigikogu: It was a Mistake to Prohibit Coverage of the Hearings Related to the Port“, where she wrote that the Supreme Court agreed with Eesti Päevaleht in that the public interest in the court case of the Port of Tallinn and corruption crimes in general is always larger, therefore, the arguments for prohibiting them should be very substantial. After a year and half in various court Instances, the Supreme Court also annulled the coverage prohibition related to the hearings of the Port of Tallinn.
The winner of the feature article category was Toivo Tänavsuu for his article published in Eesti Ekspress on 12 February “The Last Days of Agu Uudelepp: “I Gathered All My Strength to Say Good-bye to my Children“. Doctors told Agu Uudelepp who had lung cancer that his life expectancy would be one year, but he lived for four years. Tänavsuu wrote about what gave the head of the family so much strength and hope.
The winner of the major newspapers for coronavirus coverage is “Tartu Corona Madman’s Funny Adventures in Estonia“, published in Eesti Ekspress on 5 August which is a board game allowing one to travel through Estonia, infecting as many people as possible with the coronavirus. It was designed by Tarmo Rajamets and its illustrator is Heiki Ernits.
The winner of the open group of major newspapers is Tarmo Rajamets for the article published in Eesti Ekspress on 25 March “We’ll Get a Pay Rise!„ The layout humorously referred to the pay rise. Of the major newspapers, the monetary top prize was awarded to the same page of Eesti Ekspress in the design competition.
The winner of digital articles is the article published in Eesti Päevaleht “We Could Laugh and Cry. The Drama Theatre 100“, written by Liisi Viskus, Imbi Võrel, Anna Plukk and Mart Nigola. The article looks back at the theatre’s colourful past with exciting multi-media solutions.
The award for the best feature photo was given to Stanislav Moškov from Õhtuleht for his photo series “The National Ballet in Self-Isolation“.

2020

In March 2020, the Estonian Association of Media Companies announced the winners of “Press Awards 2019“. It included many employees and periodicals of Ekspress Grupp.

The winner in the multimedia category is the article published in Delfi on 29 March 2019 “This is How Films are Really Made: Take a Look How the Effect Magic of “Truth and Justice” was Born“, whose authors were Ra Ragnar Novod, Heleri Kuris, Ats Nukki, Mart Nigola, Madis Veltman, Kristi Helme and Mihkel Ulk.
The winner in the feature article category was Eero Epner with the article “Because They Can“ published in Eesti Ekspress on 8 May 2019. This article was also noticed and received recognition outside the media sector. Pärnu Women’s Asylum handed out the prize Okas for the first time to recognise the people who help to prevent domestic violence. The first Okas was awarded to Eesti Ekspress journalist Eero Epner for this article that received a lot of public attention.
The winners in the feature article category of nationwide newspapers were Ants Nukki and Tarmo Rajamets for their article “Because They Can” published in Eesti Ekspress on 8 May 2019.
The winners in the visual communication category of nationwide newspapers were Eiko Ojala and Tarmo Rajamets for the illustration “Silencing of Officials” published in Eesti Ekspress on 11 December 2019.
The winner in the news category was Mikk Salu for his article published in Eesti Ekspress on 13 February 2019 “The Great Lie: Rainer Vakra’s Thesis is Plagiarism“.

In February 2020, the investigative press award, the Bonnier Prize, for 2019 was awarded to the journalists of Eesti Ekspress and the Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR). The winners were Sulev Vedler from Eesti Ekspress and Anna Pihl from the ERR for their coverage of the listeria topic.

At the beginning of 2020, the Estonian Association of Press Photographers announced its awards at the best press photo competition. The winner of the best feature photo was Priit Simson of Ekspress Meedia for the photo series “Different Kinds of Neighbours”. The photo series was made of the houses seemingly “glued” to each other in Pelgulinna district.

The winners of the 2020 the investigative press award, the Bonnier Prize were the articles published in Õhtuleht on how the Minister of Education at the time, Mailis Reps, allowed her children to be driven around at the taxpayer’s expense. The authors of the articles published in Õhtuleht are Stass Kuznetsov, Helen Mihelson, Risto Berendson and Robin Roots.

2019

In February 2020, journalists from public broadcaster ERR and investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress won the Bonnier Prize for Investigative Journalism. The awards went to Sulev Vedler from Eesti Ekspress and Anna Pihl of ERR, for their coverage of a Listeria outbreak at a fish-packing firm.

At the beginning of 2020, the Estonian Association of Press Photographers announced its awards at the best press photo competition.

The winners of the press photo of the year for 2019 were Robin Roots from Õhtuleht and Rauno Volmar (Eesti Päevaleht / Delfi) with news stream photos. In
the category of feature photos, Priit Simson (Eesti Päevaleht), Krõõt Tarkmeel (Anne&Stiil) and Robin Roots (Õhtuleht) were the nominees.

In 2019, Ekspress Media came in 8th (2018: 7th) among the students of humanitarian studies in the survey of the most attractive employers by Instar.

The work of Ekspress Group’s journalists was also noticed and recognised outside the media sector. Pärnu Women’s Asylum handed out the prize Okas for the first time to recognise the people who help to prevent domestic violence. The prize Okas was awarded to Eesti Ekspress journalist Eero Epner who this year wrote the article “Because They Can” dealing with domestic violence that
received a lot of media attention.

Out of 37 videos submitted to the competition “The Press Video of the Year 2019”, two Delfi TV videos received an award:

Delfi TV video: “Mommies into shape: how plasticsurgeons target young mothers” made by Piia Osula, Kadri Nikopensius, Joonatan Allandi and Georg Madis Puhm. The audio-visual opinion story deals with a set of beauty procedures “Mommy makeover” that is gaining popularity and that encourage women who have given birth recently to gain their pre-pregnancy shape.

Delfi video ”Mirkko Moisar’s 10 rounds: a story abouthow to stay on one’s feet up in the boxing ring” made by Jaanus Lensment. The video shows a competition held at Tondiraba ice-skating hall on 18 February where an eight-man tournament was held in Estonia for the first time. The winner of the tournament had to step into the ring three times during the night, with each boxing match lasting for 3×3 minutes

2018

In March 2019, the Estonian Newspaper Association announced the winners of “Press Awards 2018” which included several employees and periodicals of Ekspress Group.

The journalist of the year 2018 was Tarmo Vahter (Eesti Ekspress).
Joosep Tiks won the Estonian Young Journalist Award for 2018 (Eesti Päevaleht).
The winner of the lifetime award was Silja Lättemäe (Maaleht).
The winner in the feature article category was Tarmo Vahter with his story “Who the hell is building the Estonian state when nobody is supposed to know anything?” that was published in Eesti Ekspress on 20 June.
The best feature article was “The death of the writer” written by Madis Jürgen and Tarmo Vahter that was published in Eesti Ekspress on 10 December and 27 December.
The best sports photo of the year was taken by Martin Ahven from Õhtuleht: “Harsh Measures”.
The best video title was awarded to Delfi TV’s “Generation shift: the Estonian first social network10 years later”.
In the category of layout of nationwide newspapers, the nominee was Õhtuleht.
The winner in the feature stories category of nationwide newspapers was the cover story “Therewas no need for sexual education during the Soviettime as the fiction helped young people” that was published in Eesti Ekspress Areen on 7 March.
The winner in the visual communication category of nationwide newspapers was the photo story “Morning stretch of the sun wheel above Estonia” that was published in Õhtuleht on 2 June.
The winner of the open group was the special edition of Õhtuleht from 31 December “The Year of Fights”.
The winner in the category of article views of digital newspapers was Eesti Ekspress.

In February 2019, Estonia’s most important investigative press award, the Bonnier Prize, for 2018 was jointly awarded to Eesti Ekspress journalist Kirsti Vainküla and Estonian Public Broadcasting journalist Merilin Pärl. Their stories talk about a small boy known as Martin whose adoption caused problems due to the bias of child protection specialists.