Solomon awarded the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for the second time

Solomon’s investigation into Russia’s shadow fleet—which uncovered the secret networks allowing Moscow to evade oil trade sanctions—has been awarded this year’s Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism by the European Parliament.

The cross-border investigation was coordinated by the investigative journalism platform Follow the Money and involved Solomon and inside story from Greece, along with 40 journalists from 14 media outlets. Together, they revealed how shipowners from Western countries earned over $6 billion by selling 230 old oil tankers to Russia’s shadow fleet.

Of particular importance was the Greek dimension of the investigation, carried out by Danai Maragoudaki (Solomon) and Eliza Triantafyllou (inside story). Their reporting showed that Greek shipping magnates sold 127 old tankers (55% of the total) earning more than $3.7 billion out of the total $6.3 billion.

This marks the second time Solomon has received this prestigious European award, established by the European Parliament in memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the renowned Maltese journalist murdered in October 2017 for her investigative work.

In 2023, the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize was awarded to Solomon’s cross-border investigation with Forensis, The Guardian, and Germany’s public broadcaster STRG_F/ARD into the deadly Pylos shipwreck.

Solomon has also been shortlisted for the award twice more:

• In 2024, for the investigation ‘Who Benefits?’ Inside the EU’s Fight over Scanning for Child Sex Content, which exposed conflicts of interest surrounding the European Commission’s proposed legislation.
  
• In 2023, for the investigation Hawala: The Bankers of Irregular Migration, which shed light on the informal money transfer system.
  

All illustrations for these investigations were created by Galateia Iatraki.

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