Journalist Federica Tourn was the first winner of the Piazza Grande Award, which was
launched in 2019 by the International association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) and the
Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (FSCIRE) to encourage best practices in
journalism and honor the work of journalists covering religion and spirituality.
In this interview by Jelena Jorgačević she tell us how she started reporting on religion and what it means to be a female journalist covering religion.

ALERT for journalists across Europe and around the Mediterranean basin that the deadline for the second Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award is now extended to May 15, 2023. This column also has links to the entry page, contest details and answers to frequently asked questions.

Applications are open for the second edition of the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award. Journalists covering religion, faith and spirituality in both mainstream and confessional media – newspapers, magazines or news websites – that publish regularly in Europe, including Iceland and Russia, and the countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin are invited to submit their works by April 15, 2023.

The International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) is launching its third series of online global dialogues, bringing together reporters from different regions of the world. The 2023 theme will be religious extremism in their countries.

As the IARJ’s co-managing director, based in Italy, Elisa Di Benedetto reports on the Vatican’s leading role in trying to motivate faith-related institutions and communities around the world to focus on the global crisis in caregiving for the world’s elderly.

In this interview in our Journalism Spotlight series, religion reporter Priyadarshini Sen of India discusses the importance of religion journalism and the challenges of covering faith and religion in her part of the world.

The International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) and the Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (FSCIRE) announced the winner of first edition of the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award. The international jury also awarded three special mentions.

The coronavirus outbreak didn’t stop the 1st edition of the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award. The international Jury is in the process of selecting the winner, who will be announced on Monday, June 22nd. We received many powerful entries and we very much look forward to reading the story selected by the jurors. If you are also eager to know the winner, check out the IARJ and FSCIRE websites on 22nd June!

The COVID-19 pandemic is posing new challenges to journalists covering faith and religion. In early April, we invited our IARJ members covering this unprecedented story to share their holiday-related religion stories. We continue to receive news reports related to the impact of COVID-19 in different regions of the world—and we are passing along these fascinating reports by our members.

ALERT for journalists across Europe and around the Mediterranean basin: only one week left for submitting your works to the first Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award.