The winner was announced by the patron of the Award and kmbs graduate, Mr. Serhiy Dulepov, live on the public TV channel UA:KULTURA.

The long list of nominees for this year's award includes 22 Ukrainian journalists, and, apart from Mr. Pavlo Kazarin, the finalists were Mr. Roman Vintoniv, a founder of Toronto Television, and Mr. Bohdan Logvynenko, a founder of Ukraїner project.

In his speech, Mr. Pavlo expressed his gratitude to his colleagues and said: ‘We really have a lot of reasons to lose, but I see no reasons to lay down our arms. Because it is a very easy thing to win when you are in majority, and to win when you are an outsider is probably that real thing worth dedicating your life to’.

Georgiy Gongadze Prize is the award given to independent journalists, it was established in 2019 by PEN Ukraine in partnership with Ukrainska Pravda and powered KMBS Alumni platform.

The Chapter of the Prize annually determines the winner following three criteria: innovation, significant contribution to the development of the genre or journalistic environment, professionalism and competence. The winner receives a prize of UAH 100,000.

This year, 16 kmbs graduates became patrons of Georgiy Gongadze Prize. 

Mr. Serhiy Dulepov explained why the alumni community supports this award: ‘It is important for us that people start thinking more critically, and this is impossible without professional journalists. As Mohyla Academy members, we think not only about the well-being of our own companies, but also about creating an environment around us, that's exactly what the Prize does’.

kmbs congratulates Mr. Pavlo and all the finalists!