By Tom Shaw

The Solari Team congratulates Elze van Hamelen for being one of the joint winners of this year’s Julian Assange Award.

The Julian Assange Award was conceived in the Netherlands in 2022 following “the complete media silence around the extradition proceedings of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.” A year later, the Dutch Association of Free Journalists (VVJ) and the Dutch 11 September Foundation launched the award to recognize courageous and powerful efforts in investigative journalism. The jury is comprised of former winners of the award, with the 2026 jury including Whitney Webb (2025) and Craig Murray (2024).

Elze received this year’s prize for her in-depth investigative work into major developments affecting the Netherlands. The award recognizes numerous aspects of Elze’s reporting―which the Solari Report has been proud to publish―including:

• “the unethical workings of the pharma-food industry”
• “the covert but complete overhaul of Dutch land use and ownership”
• “the weaponisation of regulations and certain molecules by the Dutch authorities to expropriate farmers and fishermen”
• “the effects of wind turbines on physical and mental health”

Furthermore, the award also comments on Elze’s work toward “providing citizens with tools to counter these developments.”

Elze had this to say regarding the work that has been recognized in this award:

“The Netherlands have a vibrant independent media. I am glad that they started the Julian Assange Award to recognize true independent reporting here in the Netherlands as well as abroad. It is an honor to be among the others that I share this recognition with. 

Most will tune out when they read or hear ‘land use planning.’ But what I discovered is that many policies that infringe upon freedom and property rights are implemented through land-use planning. By explaining policies and historical context, I try to show why we are faced with current realities and what we can do about it. That is important to me, that understanding may lead to constructive action.”

Elze continues to be a part of regular eye-opening interviews for the Solari Report as both an interviewer and interviewee, contributing her latest research and findings in support of Solari’s mission. You can find a list of Elze’s contributions in the Related at Solari section below.

Please join us in congratulating Elze on this achievement by leaving a comment on this post―letting her know the impact her work is having in the Netherlands and across the world.