Delta editor-in-chief Saskia Bonger narrowly misses out on Journalist of the Year

Delta’s editor-in-chief Saskia Bonger was close to becoming journalist of the year 2024. She was one of the last three remaining candidates for the award, which is presented each February by Dutch journalism trade magazine Villamedia. Winner was Saskia Belleman, court reporter for De Telegraaf. It was not previously announced who the nominees were.

Villamedia nominated Bonger because she ‘stood up for her magazine TU Delta and her employees when the TU Delft put her under legal pressure’, writes Villamedia editor-in-chief Chris Helt  on Linkedin on Monday. Helt is referring to the censorship case Delta went through last spring. Under legal pressure, TU Delft summoned Delta to take a research article about the Innovation & Impact Centre offline. Only two months later did it reappear online.

All the while, Bonger made sure that she, and not the other Delta editors, would take the hit. She explained more about this in an interview with Villamedia in July: “The story came to us through various channels. Then I decided: I’m going to do this myself and not my editors. Because it has a high risk of harm. I didn’t want to do that to them. And I thought: if I have to leave, I’ll have that for the story.”

Accuracy and empathy

After Bonger made both the longlist of 19 journalists and the three-name shortlist, she ultimately lost out to Saskia Belleman. She reports on crime and court cases for the Telegraaf. The jury praises her accuracy and empathy, and is especially impressed with her podcast ‘Zij is van mij’ (She’s mine) about female homicide in the Netherlands. She will receive the award on Thursday, March 20, in The Hague.

The other runner-up is Ellen de Visser. She is a science journalist at de Volkskrant and with her article ‘What women should not know about their own breasts’ she made it clear to the jury how women are still disadvantaged in health care. Previous winners were investigative journalist Roelof Bosma, science journalist Maarten Keulemans and television producer Tim Hofman.