First of all, let me thank all of you, dear colleagues, for this award and for the support that Ukrainians are receiving from you. They are in your countries and the way you have welcomed them since the first days of this terrible invasion is unprecedented.

At home in Ukraine, the role of journalism today is not limited to reporting from the frontline or covering the destruction and suffering of people.

It is also not just about documenting crimes and investigating corruption.

An extremely important job that independent local media have taken on is to bring together residents, local authorities and business people in communities to address the acute problems that have become more prevalent as a result of the war.

These problems include helping internally displaced persons find housing and work, restoring the destroyed, reintegrating veterans, providing psychological assistance to the families of the victims, and so on. Many of these problems are completely new, and it is not easy for communities to solve them. For example, the communities in the rear now have 30% more people because they have taken in internally displaced people.

And in order to find solutions to these new problems, local media play a critical role – they help people learn about the experiences of their neighbours, come together to discuss more solutions to problems than the authorities or anyone else knows, and unite to do something together. But this is also a new approach for the Ukrainian media itself. In the past, newsrooms in small towns and villages reported news and told stories. But they rarely helped solve problems.

The war destroyed the local advertising market, and in 2022, local media were operating without income. But they could not abandon their audiences. And thanks to the support of donors, as well as the help of UMBA and our mentors, local newsrooms helped solve more than 200 local problems. Behind each of these problems is the belief of people that they can change the situation with their own hands, including restored housing, assistance to IDPs and families of fallen defenders.

Your support, colleagues, is very important to the Ukrainian journalists and media whom I am honoured to represent at this highest professional award ceremony. It is not easy for us in Ukraine, it is true. But your support helps us to be as confident as possible that we have you and that we are not alone.

That is why, on behalf of Ukrainian journalists and media, let me thank you for this high recognition and for your strong support. We feel it, and we will continue to fight, restore what has been destroyed, and rebuild Ukraine in the future. I want to believe in the near future.

I will say it again. Yes, our media, editors, and journalists are having a hard time.

But they cannot leave their audiences.

And they have you and your support.

So everything will be fine.

And everything will be Ukraine.

Glory to Ukraine!

And glory to the heroes!