Author of the National Geographic Magazine Georgia, Giorgi Gogua, is the EU 2020 Grand Prize Winner in Journalism
Giorgi Gogua’s story, published in October, 2020 as the Cover Story of the National Geographic Magazine - Georgia, was awarded with the “EU prize in Journalism”. The Story was nominated as “The best article in print or electronic media” and Giorgi was announced as the best author of 2020.
The article “On the road” is dedicated to Tusheti and the team of the National Geographic Magazine - Georgia worked on it for more than a year. The extensive article was published in the October issue of the magazine, which was dedicated to the 8th anniversary of the Georgian edition of the magazine.
National Geographic Magazine - Georgia's team of 12 members conducted four expeditions to Tusheti, exploring and capturing the nomadic life of shepherds. Photographers Fernando Javierurkijo and Nikoloz Mchedlidze are co-authors of the article.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Elkana Association supported implementation of the National Geographic Georgia’s project.
The National Geographic Magazine’s head office named the story as the Best Edit of October 2020 and later on listed it as an “Ever Green” story. This means that the article “On the Road” moved into the “golden fund” of the National Geographic Magazine and all 36 editions of the magazine may republish it. The article has already been published by the Czech edition and soon will be published in Japanese, German, Turkish, Polish, Israeli, Estonian and Serbian editions.
Tusheti is in the center of the world’s attention yet again, by the N1 science-popular magazine, read by millions of people across the globe – the National Geographic Magazine.
“First of all, I congratulate Giorgi with the EU Prize. I also congratulate to the whole team too, as every single story of the National Geographic Magazine is a result of a dedicated and long-lasting hard work of a teamwork. We are happy that our responsible, uncompromised work gave such a result and the story about Tusheti and Tushetians will be read not only in Georgian, also in many different languages across the globe. I believe this is not just a success of our team, but it is also a success of our Country too, in regards of popularizing the unique region of Tusheti on a global scale” – Natia Khuluzauri, Editor in Chief of National Geographic Magazine Georgia.
"On the Road" tells the story of Karsamauli family. Karsamauli’s follow the traditional pastoral activities in Tusheti for three generations. The story told by Karsamauli family clearly shows that sheep breeding is not only a source of income, but also a way to keep ties with their historic house and ancestors.
"The cultural phenomenon, called sheep breeding, for various reasons, is in danger in modern life. I believe we need to talk about life in Tusheti and challenges that people face. Being entitled to the “Best Edit” and “Ever Green” categories together with a great honor, also bring a great responsibility for us – the authors too, as the story will be put at the spotlight of the wide audience across the globe. As for the EU Prize, it is a huge incentive and motivation to work on significant topics. " – says Giorgi Gogua, Author of the National Geographic Magazine - Georgia.
Mr. Carl Hartzel, EU Ambassador to Georgia has announced the winners in six prize categories. Categories included print, broadcast, online, photo, and conflict-related journalism.
The National Geographic Magazine was first published in October 1888 in the USA and since then has become one of the most popular science-popular Magazines throughout the world. Today it is published in 37 languages and is spread in more than 100 Countries. The National Geographic was named as the most recognizable, Number One brand of the world, with more than 345 million fans globally across all its platforms.
Georgia has become part of the global brand of the National Geographic Magazine in 2012 when the Georgian-language edition of the National Geographic Magazine was founded in Tbilisi, with the support of the “Silknet” company.
During 8 years of its existence the National Geographic Magazine – Georgia, aside publishing of the magazine, has implemented various educational projects in scientific storytelling, photography, environmental problems, culture and science, etc.
The National Geographic Magazine – Georgia has founded the local photo contest Yourshot Georgia ( yourhost.natgeo.ge ) giving possibility to professional as well as amateur photographers to be published into the Magazine.
In 2019 the first ever illustrated Biodiversity Map of Caucasus has been created by the National Geographic Magazine – Georgia team, available both in print and electronic versions ( map.natgeo.ge )
In 2017 a special issue about Georgia was published in two languages in collaboration with the Georgian National Tourism Association and the issue spread across 7 countries in Europe and Asia. The main incentive of the issue was to raise awareness about Georgia and to present it with National Geographic magazine’s traditional high-quality photos.