The winner of the Connecting EU 2024 photo competition is Martina Cikojević, editor and journalist at the Croatian Trade Union of Postal Workers.

Her photo, Brussels Grand Place in the Moonlight, earned her a two-day stay in Brussels during the EESC's Civil Society Week in March 2025.

Ms Cikojević participated in Connecting EU 2024 seminar on 17 and 18 October in Brussels. The seminar brought together press and communication officers from EU civil society organisations as well as journalists. Held under the title A bastion of democracy: helping journalism survive and thrive, it focused on the unprecedented challenges journalists face in a world of rapidly evolving AI and mounting political pressures.

Participants also joined the networking session Working as a press or communication officer in the age of Instagram, TikTok and AI – how to get your message across which included two workshops. The photo competition was part of the workshop on Lessons on communication content, led by communication specialist Tom Moylan.

Ms Cikojević said her photo, showing the moon piercing through dark clouds and bringing light to the night, could also symbolically connect to the seminar's topic. No one can stop the moon from bringing light into darkness. Nobody should stop journalists from bringing the truth for a better, safer and fairer society, she said.

As the winner of the photo contest, Ms Cikojević will participate in the EESC’s second Civil Society Week, taking place from 17 to 21 March at the EESC's premises in Brussels. This year's topic is Strengthening Cohesion and Participation in Polarised Societies.

The EESC Press Unit congratulates Martina and thanks everyone who sent their photos. (ll)