Annual contest “Every Year is Forest Year 2016” has helped make forestry sector more transparent, and improved public understanding of forestry problems and solutions.

Website “Detector media” (“Telekritika”) and FLEG II Program in Ukraine have organized the contest for the 5th time. Its full name coincides with FLEG's full name: Forestry Law Enforcement and Governance in Ukraine. Both journalists and freelance authors took part in the contest.

This year 129 pieces were submitted to the contest from 73 authors (last year, 90 and 70, respectively). The jury, which included professional journalists, foresters, FLEG II experts and independent observers, pointed out the high level of articles and reports. All submissions can be found on FLEG’s Ukrainian website http://www.fleg.org.ua/konkurs-zhurnalistiv-2016 and website “Ukrainian Forester” http://www.lesovod.org.ua/, and the finalists’ pieces can also be found on the “Detector Media” website: http://detector.media/tag/748/.

The winners are:

• Investigation “Who is Behind Barbaric Logging in the Carpathians” by Igor Vdovin from Ukrainan Channel 24.
• Article by eco-activists Andrey Plyga, Darya Shiryaeva and Petr Testov “Olevskaya Amber Republic: a Year Later” (about the impact of illegal amber mining on the forests).
• Investigation “Hunting the Forest Logger” by Alina Semenyuk and Yaroslav Levitskiy, journalists from “Stop Korruptsia” (“stop corruption”) TV Program on Ukrainian Channel 5 (about illegal logging in Chernivtsi region of Ukraine).
• Investigation “Business Zone. Chernobyl Forest for Export”) by Elena Loginova from Radio Liberty (Program “Schemes. Corruption in Details”).
• Article “How Ukrainian Forest is Logged and Sold” by Natalya Patrikeyeva for BBC website.

“The submissions following the winning ones were behind by just 1-2 points, which means that in reality, many more participants deserved to win”, says Oleg Lystopad, FLEG II expert and member of the jury.

It is also worth noting Alla Shershen, three of whose submissions reached the finals. They all are dedicated to exposing corruption, including the former chairman of State Forestry Agency Viktor Sivets, who assests were eventually arrested partly thanks to the investigation by Alla and her colleagues.

The detailed report from the final contest award event in Ukrainian http://detector.media/withoutsection/article/115901/iak_zhurnalisti_cogo_roku_sponukali_uriad_zaboroniti_rubki_lisiv_navit_sanitarni/