Global Shining Light Award Judges Honour BIRN

Global Shining Light Award Judges Honour BIRN from BIRN on Vimeo.

BIRN's investigation "Making a Killing" received special recognition - certificate of excellence - at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference 2017 in Johannesburg on Saturday.

"Making a Killing", which was jointly produced with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, uncovered how billions of euros of arms from the Balkans and Eastern Europe are illegally ending up with Syrian rebels, including Islamic State, ISIS.

In July this year, the story was shortlisted for the Global Shining Light Award, an award sponsored by the Global Investigative Journalism Network, GIJN, an association of 155 non-profit organisations in 68 countries.

The story was produced as part of "A Paper Trail to Better Governance" project supported by the Austrian Development Agency to promote rule of law, accountability and transparency in six South-Eastern Europe countries.