The investigation “Protesters in rent”, which revealed that participants in the protests organized by the Shor Party in the autumn of 2022 were paid to demonstrate their “civic activism”, took second place in the Investigations category of the Superscrieri din România contest.

As part of the investigation, four ZdG reporters – Anatolie Eșanu, Daniela Calmîș, Vasile Ursachi and Natalia Zaharescu, infiltrated the ranks of the Orhei demonstrators who were transported to the September 18, 2022 protest. Three of the reporters were paid by the organizers for “participating” in the demonstration organized by the Shor Party, thus proving that the party offers monetary remuneration for people brought to Chisinau to “protest”.

This is the first time that Ziarul de Gardă has taken part in the prestigious journalistic competition in Romania.

Superscrieri din Romania is a narrative journalism competition organised by the Friends For Friends Foundation in Romania. 46 entries (print, podcast, video, photo and civic content creators) reached the finals of the Superscrieri Awards competition.