Independent Syrian newspaper wins European Newspaper Award

The IMS-supported independent Syrian newspaper Souriatna has been awarded the Judges’ Special Recognition at the European Newspaper Award

With the Judges‘ Special Recognition for Souriatna the pursuit of freedom of the press should be supported.

Souriatna is an independent Syrian weekly newspaper, with a broad coverage of events in Syria and the Arab world. The first edition was released in Damascus in September 2011, six months after the rebellion had broken out. The newspaper was published in the Syrian capital until May 2014. Today Souriatnas editors and journalists work from Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

The newspaper is published every Sunday in the Turkish border city Gaziantep and distributed and printed in both Syria and the countries hosting refugees.

IMS, in collaboration with the Danish newspaper Politiken, launched in 2014 a fundraising campaign to support five independent Syrian newspapers’ joint distribution programme inside Syria. One of these newspapers was Souriatna. In just three weeks, the readers of Politiken donated nearly 650,000 Danish kroner (£69,000) to the campaign. 

Read more about the winners of the European Newspaper Awards.