Former N1 journalist Adam Santovac won first prize in this year’s European Union Awards for Investigative Journalism for a documentary aired on N1 in 2019.

Santovac made the documentary titled Super Graduate about corruption in the education system in Serbia while he was with N1. A jury press release said that the documentary was a very important investigation into corruption in university level education, “an area in which the consequences are long-term and unforeseeable, and essentially affect all segments of life in the country”.

Speaking in pre-recorded acceptance speech video, Santovac said that the key to the success of his documentary was its simplicity. “I managed to meet the basic function of journalism, asking and helping people find answers,” he said.

Second place went to BIRN Serbia journalists Jelena Veljkovic and Aleksandar Djordjevic for a series of stories about the Krusik affair, reporting on corruption in the that government-controlled munitions factory.

Third place went to Deutsche Welle journalists Nemanja Rujevic, Sanja Kljajic and Ajdin Kamber for their story on the emigration of doctors and nurses from Serbia. The EU Awards for Investigative Journalism in Serbia is part of the EU-funded project Strengthening Quality News and Independent Journalism in the Western Balkans and Turkey.