More than 30 Podgorica-based journalists attended the launch on December 3, 2007 of Moving on: Overcoming Barriers to a European Future, a book of ten articles produced as part of the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, 2007 programme. Local fellow Bojana Stanisic spoke at the event held at the Montenegrin Media Institute, presenting her article, Greening of the Sea gives Adriatic States the Blues, which is the result of research into regional cooperation to deal with an invasive algae plaguing the Adriatic Sea.

Bojana Stanisic

The Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence, an initiative of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and Erste Foundation, in cooperation with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, selects ten fellows annually to research stories within a topical theme related to European integration. In 2007, this was ‘mobility’, and fellows from throughout the region covered obstacles and opportunities to the movement of goods, people and ideas in a range of sectors, including labour markets, business, justice, transport, sport, education and culture. The results were published on November 16, online and in hard copy, in English, German and all main languages of the Balkans.

Stanisic’s BIRN editor, Nedjeljko Rudovic, stressed that her article, and the Fellowship as a whole, clearly show that a regional approach is the future for journalism in the Balkans. He called on Montenegrin journalists to apply for the programme’s next round, to be announced in early 2008.

To find out more about the Fellowship programme, and to read Moving On online, go to fellowship.birn.eu.com or email fellowship@birn.eu.com.