Aces of World Journalism in Prague at Journey 2021

The Bakala Foundation’s Journey Program celebrated another successful year. The unique Prague-based journalistic boot-camp-styled course is devoted to Czech and foreign journalism students as well as rising journalists. Twenty-one selected participants from 8 countries (Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and the USA) attended the intense ten-day program. The busy program was a combination of lectures, workshops, and simulations of the work in the editorial office or in the field. Students participated in all activities and subsequently received feedback from experienced mentors. Journey proudly boasted journalist aces from the world's media and agencies such as Adam Entous, Pulitzer Prize winner (The New Yorker), Evan Perez (CNN), and Czech journalist with many years of experience in CNN Tomáš Etzler. In addition, renowned journalist and writer Jessica Bruder (see her photo below the article title), author of "Nomadland," (inspiration of the oscar-winning movie of the same name), lectured at this unique summer school for a fourth year.

Interest in the Journey program grows every year. Applicants selected by an expert jury received a full scholarship covering all costs associated with their travel and stay in Prague. There are now several well-established Czech journalists among the alumni of the Journey Program, such as Kirill Ščeblykin from Deník N, Andrea Procházková from Respekt, Jana Václavíková from Aktuálně.cz, and Jaroslav Hroch from the Czech Radio. The Journey program aims to present standards and examples of modern journalism practice. The content focuses on topics such as investigative journalism, journalistic ethics, working with resources, and photojournalism. However, critical to the program is also the exchange of experience between individual participants and establishing contacts that they can use in their future careers.