Swiss Press main prize for Parmelin research in Blick

The tax giveaway to farmers was a talking point in itself: The National Council decided on a land privilege, according to which federal taxes would no longer be due if agriculturally used land was sold as much more valuable building land. When the author then also made public why a member of the national government had supported the change in the law with a report, although there was no need for action for his department, the scandal was perfect: Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin had to put up with the accusation of having acted in the family interest. His brother owns an exclusive property in Bursins VD that is affected by the tax privilege. Parmelin retroactively transferred his own share of the vineyard in a prime location to his brother - three days after the ominous report was submitted.

The awards of the Fondation Reinhardt von Graffenried were presented in Bern on Wednesday evening. Print prize winner Lenz now works for the Tages-Anzeiger.

In the online segment, Sylvain Besson beat the competition. On the portal of the French-speaking Swiss newspaper Le Temps, he exposed the business with heavy oil - the "dirty blood of the
Globalization," as he calls it.

Of the nominated radio contributions, Pauline Vrolixs' "Life at any price" went down best with the jury. For the French-speaking Swiss radio station RTS, she portrayed a strictly conservative Catholic couple with six children who categorically reject abortions - and who admit in the course of their conversations with the journalist that ideology and reality do not quite coincide in everyday life.

The winners of the Swiss Press Awards are: Christoph Lenz (Swiss Press Print), Sylvain Besson (Swiss Press Online), Pauline Vrolixs (Swiss Press Radio), Alain Rebetez (Swiss Press Video), Carlo Silini (Swiss Press Local) and Zalmaï (Swiss Press Photo).

Each of the six winners was presented with the diamond for their outstanding work and the sum of 20,000 Swiss francs. The 2nd and 3rd prizes in print, online, radio and video each received 1,000 and the Swiss Press Photo category winners each received 2,000 Swiss francs.

All winners and their winning entries can be found on Swisspressaward.ch.

The Fondation Reinhardt von Graffenried, which is independent of publishing houses, was founded with the aim of promoting Swiss journalism.

For the third time, the quadrilingual Swiss Press Award catalog featuring the works of the award-winning journalists will be published together with the traditional Swiss Press Photo yearbook, which is being published for the twentieth time this year and is available in bookstores. The national touring exhibition "Swiss Press Photo 17" will start on May 4, 2017 at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich (May 4 - July 2) before moving on to the LAC in Lugano (July 4 - August 21), the Kornhausforum in Bern (September 22 - October 22) and the Château de Prangins (November 2, 17 - March 4, 18). (SDA/hae/pd)