Dženat Dreković, a photographer for the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN), has been awarded the Eco Journalist Prize for the best photography by the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society (CPCD) for responsible and impactful reporting on the environment.

Dreković received the award for a series of photographs taken during the CIN’s investigation “River Polluters Beyond The Inspection’s Reach” published in April 2023. The investigation revealed that river polluters in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) contaminate rivers and the land where farmers cultivate crops and feed livestock without any sanctions.

The FBiH Water Act stipulates no penalty for excessive discharge of pollution into the river. The Regulation on the Conditions for Discharging Wastewater into the Environment and Public Sewerage Systems stipulates that all new facilities must align the quality of their wastewater with prescribed values, however, for the past decade the Federation Ministry of Environment and Tourism has been consistently sparing the polluters by postponing their deadlines through constant changes of the regulation.

The award for the best article went to Nikolina Damjanić, a journalist from the portal Mondo.ba, for the story Ecological Danger: Do You Know What the ‘Black Spots’ in Republika Srpska Are?

The award for the best audio/video contribution was given to Vesna Vukmirović, a journalist from Radio Television BN, for the story WHEN RIVERS REBEL: Devastation of Our Rivers Beds is of Great Magnitude, Are All Rivers in Danger?

The Eco Journalist Award is presented in three categories on the topic of environmental protection: the best article, the best audio/video contribution, and the best photography.  More than 75 applications in all categories were submitted.

The awards were presented on december 2023 in Sarajevo, organized by CPCD.