Erasmus Magazine wins Kring Awards for best background story and column

Erasmus Magazine has won two national journalism awards. An article by editor Tessa Hofland received the Kring Award for best background story, while a column by Giselle Maria Timmers won the Kring Award for best column.

The awards were presented on Thursday at the national Kring Congress for independent higher education media. For her award-winning article, Hofland investigated why, for almost twenty years, it has been virtually impossible to remove underperforming medical students from their degree programme. The jury unanimously awarded the story the highest score and described it as ‘an excellently written, socially relevant investigation’ that ‘skilfully exposes a major problem faced by medical programmes across the Netherlands’.

According to the jury, Hofland shows in a patient and factual way how the instrument iudicium abeundi is in practice hardly usable. The openness about sources and working methods was also praised, making the article, according to the jury, ‘a fine piece of investigative journalism’ and ‘a more than deserved winner’.

Also award for best column

The winning column Shirtless in a newly built kitchen by Giselle Maria Timmers was praised for its ‘fine observations’, a tone that ‘never goes off track’, and subtle humour ‘never served in heavy-handed portions’. The jury also praised its recognisability, structure, and the ability to unfold a larger story from a small, everyday moment, with a ‘slightly melancholic’ ending.

Pride

For Hofland, the award feels like a recognition of a collective effort. “I am extremely proud. I worked on this for so long, and during that time the whole team helped me. Colleagues took over tasks, thought along about the story and the visuals. That makes this award feel like a real team achievement.”

Editor-in-chief Wieneke Gunneweg is also proud of the double win. “These prizes are a huge recognition of all the energy and effort the team puts into good journalism.” According to Gunneweg, Hofland’s story underlines the importance of journalism within higher education. “With that investigation we put an important problem on the agenda and really made an impact. It shows that higher education media can tell stories that national media are less likely to pick up or explore in as much depth.”

The composition of the jury also makes the recognition extra meaningful, Gunneweg says. “The fact that the appreciation comes from professional journalists and colleagues in the field makes it even more honourable.” This year’s juries consisted of experienced journalists and columnists from national media, including Stijn Bronzwaer (newspaper NRC), Merijn van Nuland (newspaper Trouw) and Eva Hoeke (freelance columnist).

Annual awards

The Kring of Higher education media presented the awards on Thursday during the annual Kring Congress in Maastricht. There, the best journalistic productions from higher education media were awarded in the categories Background, Column and Photo.

The award for best photograph went to Kees Rutten from Trajectum. He made a portrait of student Mochir Moboic, who fled from South Sudan and, via vocational education and work, eventually enrolled in the journalism programme at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences.