Vers Beton wins prizes: two international awards for data journalism and a nomination for De Tegel

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Vers Beton and OPEN Rotterdam won two international prizes for journalistic research. We have also been nominated for De Tegel, the most important Dutch prize for journalism.

Published on:
March 27, 2024

Photo from the research story nominated for De Tegel, Regional/Local category.
Image: Angeniet Berkers

Vers Beton has won prizes. Our research into the Rotterdam social assistance algorithm resulted in no fewer than two international awards for data journalism: the Sigma Award and the Philip Meyer Journalism Award. For that research, Vers Beton collaborated with an international research team, consisting of OPEN Rotterdam, Lighthouse Reports and Wired.

Sigma Award and Philip Meyer Award

This week it was announced that the research project has received the Sigma Award, making it one of the ten best data projects worldwide in 2023, chosen from 591 entries from 78 countries. Read the article about the Rotterdam social assistance algorithm by Saskia Klaassen and Romy van Dijk here and view the entire file here.

Earlier this year, this dossier won third place in the Philip Meyer Journalism Award, an American prize for data journalism. The jury writes: “The judges commented on how rarely news organizations gain access to these often proprietary lines of code, and how important they are to holding governments accountable for their actions.”

Nomination De Tegel

And there is even more award news: on Tuesday evening, investigative journalist Adrián Estrada and photographer Angeniet Berkers received a call with the news that their investigative story for Vers Beton and OPEN Rotterdam has been nominated for De Tegel in the Regional/Local category. De Tegel is the most important Dutch prize for journalism.

The penetrating long read A scandal, a pandemic and a war: how every crisis affects the same Rotterdam families with beautiful photography, is about three sisters affected by the benefits scandal, the pandemic and the energy crisis and tells a broader story about how the same groups in Rotterdam are affected by a crisis every time. Other nominees in the Regional/Local category are the Stentor and the IJmuider Courant. The winners will be announced during the ceremony on May 6.

This week we’re having cake in the editorial office!

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Prize-winning journalism from Vers Beton:

The story of three sisters from Rotterdam painfully shows how crisis after crisis affects the same people.

Author:
Adrian Estrada

Published on:
February 15, 2023
We found that there are several issues with ‘risk assessment model’ for welfare fraud detection used from 2018-2021.

Authors:
Saskia Klaassen and Romy van Dijk
Published on:
March 6, 2023
A handful of civil servants, insufficiently aware of ethical risks, were able to experiment undisturbed for years with the data of vulnerable Rotterdam residents on social assistance.

Authors:
Saskia Klaassen and Romy van Dijk
Published on:
October 23, 2023