Julian Assange Prijs/Award 2026 gewonnen door Elze van Hamelen, Rico Brouwer en The Grayzone
Potkaars dossier Julian Assange: https://potkaars.nl/assange
Winners Julian Assange Award 2026 revealed
Posted on 14 September 2026
– Press Statement –
On September 12th, during the Dutch 9/11 Conference in The Netherlands, the winners of the 2026 Julian Assange Award were made public.
The Grayzone won the international award for outstanding investigative journalism.
The category for exceptional Dutch journalism saw a tie; both Elze van Hamelen and Rico Brouwer with his platform Potkaars received the 2026 Julian Assange Prijs.
The Grayzone, headed by Max Blumenthal, were awarded the Julian Assange Award 2026 for the breadth of their (geopolitical) scope; their uncompromising investigative work and heads-on debunking of western governments’ propaganda; their original news commentaries; impressive output, made accessible via a range of channels , and especially for the fact that they make a real effort and take considerable risks to report from important places and events, around the world.
Elze van Hamelen won the Julian Assange Prijs 2026 for her in-depth investigative work into big developments, such as the unethical workings of the pharma-food industry, the covert but complete overhaul of Dutch land use and ownership, the weaponisation of chemistry and regulations by the Dutch authorities to eradicate farmers and fishermen, the effects of wind turbines on physical and mental health, and for providing citizens with tools to counter these developments.
Potkaars received the 2026 Julian Assange Prijs for his audio-video registrations of, and documentary series on, various protests and over a hundred political court hearings, especially those against Covid-19 measures, and those (doctors, academics and others) who offered alternatives, or voice substantiated objections. Driven by the motto “Potkaars talks to everyone”, Brouwer conducts interviews with critical citizens, scientists, diplomats and international experts such as Martin Armstrong, Alfred de Zayas and Nils Melzer and amplifies citizens initiatives with his camera.
Jury
The jury for the award is made up of former award winners.
History of the Award
The idea for the award originated in 2022, during a meeting with Julian Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, in Amsterdam. The award was launched a year later by the Dutch Association of Free Journalists (VVJ) and the Dutch 11 September Foundation.
The reason for award was the complete media silence around the extradition proceedings of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, especially in the Netherlands. When a plea deal freed the visionary and self-proclaimed ‘Cypherpunk’ only a year later, the decision was made to continue the award – at least until Assange will be officially pardoned, or the so called crimes held against him (‘guilty of journalism’) will be dropped, for ever.
Previous Winners
In 2023 and 2024, the international award was given to a journalist or media organisation who had reported factually and consistently on the persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Winners were Consortium News (2023) and Craig Murray (2024).
From 2025, the criteria for both the international Julian Assange Award and the Dutch Julian Assange Prize were aligned and concern outstanding investigative journalism and/or providing the public with information to which they would not have likely had access, otherwise.
Whitney Webb, with Unlimited Hangout, was awarded the prize in 2025.
Previous winners in the Dutch category (‘exceptional public service’) are:
Voorwaarheid (2023), Eric van de Beek (2024), Cees van den Bos (2025).
Julian Assange
From 2006 to 2018, Australian born Julian Assange – coder, journalist, online publisher – published war crimes, corruption scandals and abuses of power by governments, multinationals and other influential organisations, via his highly secured media platform WikiLeaks. Because of these publications, Assange brought upon him the rage of many governments, especially of the United States, and endured more than a decade of prosecution, psychological torture and captivity, until his release in June 2024.
