Zurich (ots) – Switzerland’s “Journalist of the Year” is Christof Gertsch. The “Magazine” reporter was voted number one in the industry magazine “Schweizer Journalist:in”. Bigna Silberschmidt (SRF) is in second place, third is Sacha Batthyany (“NZZ am Sonntag”).
Christof Gertsch was already writing about sports at the age of 15. However, he was hardly interested in the great and popular disciplines; his passion has always been side events and fringe sports. Today, Gertsch no longer sees himself as a sports journalist. The 40-year-old is now considered one of the best reporters in the country. In an interview with “Schweizer Journalist:in” Gertsch tells how he had to fight for space for his reports in the beginning. When he switched from “NZZ am Sonntag” to “Magazine”, he initially felt completely overwhelmed. His journalistic work is impressive. Sometimes he includes years of research for sensational reports and portraits, such as the “Magglingen Protocols”, a portrait of Martina Hingis or, more recently, a story about an Antarctic glacier whose imminent collapse could influence overall climate development.
Turnout in this election was huge. 1,169 votes were cast and nearly 1,500 comments were written. Ranking was determined using a point system. Each participant could assign points between 0 and 10. The jury, which had already drawn up the shortlist, included 50 media journalists, award winners in previous years and media managers of the year.
Overview of categories:
- Journalist of the Year: Christof Gertsch, Das Magazin
- Editor-in-Chief of the Year: WOZ (Florian Keller, Silvia Süess, Kaspar Surber)
- Reporter of the Year: Luzia Tschirky, SRF
- Political Journalist of the Year: Sandro Brotz, SRF
- Business Journalist of the Year: Patrizia Laeri, elleXX
- Research Journalist of the Year: Fabian Eberhard, SonntagsBlick
- Social Journalist of the Year: Daniel Ryser, Republic
- Sports Journalist of the Year: Christof Gertsch, Das Magazin
- Columnist of the Year: Patty Basler, NZZ am Sonntag
- Cultural Journalist of the Year: Simone Meier, Watson
- Local Journalist of the Year: Liliane Minor, Tages-Anzeiger
- Photographer of the Year: Alessandro della Valle, Keystone-SDA
- Audio: Laura Bachmann, Mirja Gabathuler, Vivienne Kuster, Philipp Loser, Tages-Anzeiger (Podcast “Apropos”)
- Video Journalist of the Year, Benno Kälin, TeleZüri
- Breakthrough of the Year: Karin A. Wenger, Freelance Journalist
Gisela “Gila” Blau receives the “Swiss Journalist:in” award for her life’s work: The 80-year-old captivates with her journalistic passion, variety of topics and formats and constant commitment. She worked for the “Schweizer Illustrierte” for many years, then for “Blick”, the “Handelzeitung” and “Focus”, among others.
The special prize, also awarded by the editors of “Schweizer Journalist:in”, goes to Martina Fehr. She has only been at the helm of MAZ since 2020, has committed and quickly developed the journalism school in this short period of time and is now one of the most important voices in the Swiss media industry.
The new issue of “Schweizer Journalist:in” will be published on Friday, December 23, 2022. The e-paper is now available in the Medienfachverlag Oberauer shop: https://shop.oberauer.com/medien/schweizer- journalist -in/ ?p=1
The award ceremony will take place on March 13 at the Design Museum in Zurich.
Questions and contact:
Marcus Hebein, [email protected], Tel. +41 79 511 73 51