Maja Nikolić, a journalist from the Belgrade newsroom of N1 Television, is this year’s recipient of the Regional “Gordana Suša” Award for Television Journalism, presented by the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) in collaboration with partner organizations from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The “Gordana Suša” Award is given for outstanding achievements in television journalism. This year’s laureate has consistently demonstrated responsible and uncompromising journalistic work in television media, adhering to the universal ethical code of journalism and serving the public interest—key criteria considered by the jury.

“Maja Nikolić has stood out with her talent and dedication since her early days at Studio B Television. Over the past decade at N1 Serbia, she has demonstrated her high level of professionalism, ethics, and courage across various complex television formats while developing a distinctive and recognizable style. Her excellence in the profession has already been acknowledged through previous awards for investigative journalism,” the jury’s statement reads.

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia established the Regional Award for Television Journalism in 2022, in cooperation with partner organizations from the region and with the support of the Suša family, with the aim of preserving and honoring the legacy of Gordana Suša (1946–2021). Suša was one of the best Serbian and Yugoslav television journalists and served as president of NUNS from 1999 to 2002. She is remembered for her exceptional professionalism, great courage, and unwavering fight for media freedom and human rights.

The first recipient of the award was Hrvoje Krešić, a journalist from Nova TV in Zagreb, while last year’s award went to Ivana Dragičević, a journalist from N1 Croatia.

This year’s jury consisted of Željko Bodrožić (President of NUNS), Borka Rudić (General Secretary of the Association of BH Journalists), Hrvoje Zovko (President of the Croatian Journalists’ Association), former laureates Hrvoje Krešić and Ivana Dragičević, as well as journalists Branka Mihajlović and Velimir Ilić, who were colleagues and friends of Gordana Suša.

The award is supported by the Media Diversity Institute Western Balkans, the OSCE Mission to Serbia, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium in Belgrade.