Åsa Erlandsson receives the 2020 Per Wendel Award

Each year, the Per Wendel Prize is awarded to journalists who act as “fearless developers”. The winner also receives 100,000 SEK. It is now clear that this year’s winner is Åsa Erlandsson at Svenska Dagbladet.

The SvD journalist received a lot of attention this year for her series of reports on the corona pandemic, “One Month in the Intensive Care Unit”, where she closely followed the care providers and affected people at Södertälje hospital.

He also won the 2017 Grand Prize for Journalist in storytelling class for the reportage book “What Never Happened: The Trollhättan School Murder.”

“So unexpected”

Thomas Mattsson, former editor-in-chief of Expressen and new president of the Per Wendel Award, presented the award to the editorial team.

– Very funny and unexpected, says Åsa Erlandsson.

– It was really surprising when you called me a few weeks ago. Sometimes you can make a crack that you will be happier with. But the Pelle Wendel Award has been awarded to a profession for many years and I am so happy to be recognized for it. I did not expect that.

She highlights her report on the corona pandemic as something of which she is very proud.

– We saw people die in front of Staffan’s camera. We were also able to run with the doctors at birth and watch people being born. It is a small hospital where the staff has to do many tasks. That report was fantastic, in that way, says Åsa Erlandsson.

Motivation of the jury:

“The Nyhetsfabriken ecosystem draws from many sources: your own idea, good advice, a good editor, or a motivated journalist doing a scoop.

But sometimes a special journalist makes story after story. Nominated for publications in union press, for a book of reports, for a television program, for television reports. And now, recurring unique stories in a diary.

This year’s award winner Åsa Erlandsson, over time and across different genres, has proven to be worthy of the Per Wendel news award, ”the jury writes in their motivation.

“We quickly left with several hundred hospital employees”

– What I try to do is take the reader by the hand and hopefully they will follow to the last letter of the report, says Åsa Erlandsson in an interview with Expressen TV.

– I thrive best when I’m not in the editorial office, but I go out and meet people. Meet people at the crime scene, in their homes, or in their daily life.

Åsa Erlandsson has worked as a reporter at SvD since January this year, focusing on investigative journalism and storytelling. He previously worked for the Swedish police, Vårdfokus magazine, at SVT and Aftonbladet. She has also been nominated for a Gold Spade five times.