• Bank Austria and APA announce the renowned award for excellence in journalism

• Submission deadline for the prize, endowed with a prize money of 5,000 euro, is 31 July 2010

• In the spotlight are contributions, which focus on borders and prejudices within Europe in varied ways and help overcome them

For the seventh time, Bank Austria, member of UniCredit Group, in cooperation with the APA - Austrian Press Agency announces the renowned journalism prize “Writing for CEE”. The award, which is endowed with 5,000 euro, is intended to promote journalistic debate on questions regarding Europe and European integration. The award goes to contributions that cover Europe, life and everyday existence in European countries, European art, culture or lifestyle in distinct and varied ways - and make a contribution to overcoming borders and prejudices.

The prize “Writing for CEE” focuses not only on the EU-region, but rather on Europe, taking particular account of Central and Eastern Europe. Journalistic contributions that were published between 1 August 2009 and 31 July 2010 can be submitted up until 31 July 2010. Transcripts of radio, TV and online contributions are also welcome. The prize winner will be announced and presented with the award at the end of 2010 at a festive event in Vienna.

The Vice Editor in Chief of Vienna’s city paper "Falter", Florian Klenk, was awarded the prize “Writing for CEE 2009”. The 36 year-old “investigative journalist” received the prize for a report that appeared in "Berliner Zeitung" and in "Falter", and was also published as an award-winner on www.apa.at/cee-award. The contribution is entitled “Behind the Fence” and deals with conditions in a refugee camp situated in the Ukraine at the point where Slovakia, Hungary and the Ukraine meet. The guest of honour at last year’s award ceremony was former East German civil rights activist Bärbel Bohley.

Members of the international jury are Czech communications scientist Milan Smid, Slovakian publicist Michael Berko, communications consultant Ildiko Füredi-Kolarik, Slovenian playwright Jože Hudeček, Polish journalist Igor Janke, Czech ex-presidential adviser Jiří Pehe, Hungarian radio journalist Julia Varadi, Bulgarian author Janina Dragostinova, CEE press spokesperson of Bank Austria - UniCredit Group, Silvana Lins, and APA foreign policy chief Ambros Kindel.

Submissions must include the contribution in the original language, a translation into English and a copy of the author’s CV. Information and the submission form for the prize can be found on the internet at www.apa.at/cee-award.

This text can be found on our homepage www.bankaustria.at as well.

About UniCredit Group

UniCredit Group is a major international financial institution with strong roots in 22 European countries as well as representative offices in 27 other markets, approximately 9,800 branches and more than 165,000 employees at 31 December 2009.

UniCredit Group is market leader in Central and Eastern Europe, where it is one of the largest banking players, with a broad network of approximately 4,000 branches.

The Group operates in the following CEE countries: Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.