Graduate of 2015-2016 class of the School of Advanced Journalism, Iurii Botnarenco was designated “Hope of the Year 2016”. The prize was offered on Friday, 16 December, at the Annual Gala of the Press.

Iurii is a reporter of Bucharest’s “Adevarul” newspaper and manages the publication’s website section dedicated to Moldova. The “Hope of the Year 2016” is the first prize of his career in journalism. Clearly emotional, Iurii told us that the desire to receive that title came last year at the “Best Journalists of 2015” Gala, when he was still a student at the School of Advanced Journalism. Iurii says that this award will motivate him in his work even more. “I will do my work honestly, correctly, neutrally, objectively and professionally,” he said.

The “Journalists of the Year 2016” Awards Gala is at its 22^nd edition, and it has been organized by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) and the Press Freedom Committee. Since 2007, five SAJ graduates have become “Hope of the Year”: Anastasia Nani (2007), Irina Gotisan (2010), Alla Ceapai (2012), Tamara Grejdeanu (2013) and Victoria Ungureanu (2014).