Nino Bilajac, a CIN journalist, and Dženat Dreković, a CIN photographer are the winners of the “Eco Journalist” award presented by the Center for Civil Society Promotion (CPCD). Bilajac received the award for the best written text and Dreković for the best photography.
The award-winning story “The King of Poison Leaking from the Mostar Landfill” was published in June 2021. Bilajac’s investigation pointed to the high concentration of arsenic in the waste waters draining from the Mostar landfill, which in the long run could pollute the environment and thus cause serious diseases among the local population.
More than 100 tons of waste daily land to the Mostar landfill, which has been operating for years without an environmental and water permit, At the same time, wastewater leak from the landfill and flows into the nearby Sušica stream that passes through the Vrapčići settlement. The landfill is managed by the public company “Deponija”, which has never analyzed the water from the stream. Although since 2008, more than 16 million BAM has been invested in arranging the landfill, the wastewater treatment plant was never installed because “it never got around to it”
Dreković received the award for a series of photographs he took during this investigation, which enable readers to experience the story of the Mostar landfill through pictures and visualize it.
The award for the best audio/video contribution went to Aida Osmancević, a journalist from Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHT) for the story “The Uborak Landfill will remain where it is for at least another five years”.
The “Eco Journalist” Award is awarded in three categories related to environmental protection: the best media text, audio/video, and photography. More than 70 applications in all categories were submitted.
The CPCD presented the awards on August 5, 2022, in Sarajevo.
