In our continuing series of profiles of IARJ leaders, Jelena Jorgačević talks with Douglas Todd about the challenges of covering religion in Serbia.

In our fourth global discussion about religion and politics, IARJ members from Europe discuss current challenges journalists face in navigating political and religious forces in their countries. Joining moderator Jelena Jorgacevic are Georgia Geleoudi, a religion blogger covering Greece and Cyprus; Hendro Munsterman, Vatican and Rome Correspondent for the Dutch daily newspaper Nederlands Dagblad; and Jonah Mandel, an IARJ founding member and a correspondent in Israel for the French news agency AFP.

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.

Watch the fifth in our global series of dialogues.

Watch the third in our series of global dialogues.

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!

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.

Journalists around the world are scrambling to follow the spread of COVID 19, also known as Coronavirus. To encourage other religion journalists to report on the impact, Elisa Di Bendetto writes: “I live in the Veneto region of Italy, about 120 km from the locked down town of Vo’ Euganeo and 60 km from the nearest cases, and I can report first-hand that confirmed cases of the virus dramatically change life for people of faith.”

ALERT for journalists across Europe and around the Mediterranean basin that the deadline for the first Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award is now extended to April 27, 2020. This column also has links to the entry page, contest details and information on the international jury of prominent journalists —and answers to frequently asked questions.