Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT wins three awards at Paparazzi media forum

Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT received three awards at the annual Paparazzi 2026 media forum, recognising its fight for press freedom, investigative journalism, and a century-long legacy of radio broadcasting, communications agency Publicum announced on Saturday.

The 21st edition of the forum, held in Vilnius on Press Restoration Day, honoured the most significant events, phenomena, and figures in Lithuanian media over the past year. Publicum founder and director Ričardas Jarmalavičius highlighted that Lithuanian journalism had shown particular strength in systematically scrutinising power, money, and influence.

“The most important journalistic investigations became not just news, but real instruments of democratic oversight,” Jarmalavičius said.

LRT was awarded the For Freedom prize for its role in defending press freedom amid political pressures. Jarmalavičius noted that recent political disputes surrounding LRT and an unprecedented mobilisation of the journalistic community had demonstrated that press freedom “is not self-evident—it must be protected every day.”

The broadcaster’s Investigative Unit received the For Transparency award for exposing Russian special services operations, tracing illicit cash flows in the Nemuno aušra account, uncovering political corruption in a waste disposal scandal, and revealing flaws in financial guarantee schemes. These were among the high-profile investigations cited by organisers.

LRT RADIO, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, was honoured with the For a Century’s Voice award. Jarmalavičius described the station as “a witness to Lithuania’s history, a chronicler of society, and a daily source of information since 1926.”