A SCOTTISH freelance journalist has been awarded first place in the UK leg of an Europe-wide competition celebrating diversity and opposing discrimination.
For a piece published in Scotland on Sunday newspaper, Billy Briggs has been recognised by the European Commission in its ‘For Diversity. Against Discrimination’ journalism award.
The winning article, ‘Pursued by Prejudice’, was published on August 19 this year and now goes forward against 27 other hopefuls for the Europe prize.
It tells of racism experienced in Scotland by Roma people.
Say the award organisers, the competition “is designed to honour journalists who contribute with their work to a better public understanding of the benefits of diversity and the fight against discrimination in employment on the grounds of age, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, disability, religion or belief”.
Added the judges, of Briggs’ article: “The jury was impressed by the relevance of the article to the campaign, the quality of writing and the obvious lengths the author had gone to in researching the piece.
“Jury members felt that it provides a timely and in-depth account of the discrimination that Roma people face both in Scotland and across Europe. They also felt that it explores, in an honest manner, a subject matter that is often misrepresented in the media and the public domain.”
