The deadline for submitting applications to win the Press Council’s National Journalistic Ethics and Professional Deontology Award is June 25. The award will be conferred as a result of a contest intended for media outlets, based on assessments by the public and a group of experts, IPN reports.

The contest for the National Journalistic Ethics and Professional Deontology Award is open to all the media outlets of Moldova. Candidates can be suggested by media consumers or a group of experts set up by the Press Council for the purpose. The editorial offices can field themselves.

The applications must be submitted to the Press Council’s head office at MD-2012, 41/5, Bucuresti St, Chisinau, to the email address secretariat@consiliuldepresa.md or by completing and sending the standard form at www.mediaforum.md.

The professional conduct of the applicant media outlets will be assessed by the public, the group of experts and the Press Council in accordance with the provisions of the Journalist’s Deontological Code.

The list of participants in the 2016 contest will be published by July 10, 2016. By November 15, 2016, the visitors of the online platform www.mediaforum.md will be able to give points to the contenders.

Instituted by the Press Council of Moldova, the National Journalistic Ethics and Professional Deontology Award is provided in a move to promote high quality journalism and good journalistic practices. In 2015 the award was handed over to the Office of Radio Free Europe in Chisinau.  Under the regulations, the winner of the award cannot take part in the contest during five years.