Silvana Strieder and Christoph Jochum have been named joint overall winners of the Sports Media Austria Award 2026 after receiving an equal number of votes. Strieder became the first Audio category winner to claim the overall honor and only the second woman to win the award in its 23 editions.
Vienna | By ASJFNEWS Staff
Silvana Strieder, representing the podcast “Unschlagbar ehrlich,” and Christoph Jochum of Sky Sport Austria have jointly won the Sports Media Austria Award 2026, presented by Coca-Cola.
The two finished level in the final members’ poll and will each receive €2,000 in prize money.
Strieder’s victory marked the first time an Audio category winner has taken the overall award. She also became only the second woman to earn the top honor, following ORF’s Karoline Rath-Zobernig in 2019.
Sports Media Austria President Michael Schuen hosted the award ceremony at the House of Sports, where guests included Sports State Secretary Michaela Schmidt, Sport Austria President Hans Niessl, Austrian Football Association President Josef Pröll and Coca-Cola representative Philipp Bodzenta.
Organizers received 112 submissions for this year’s awards. A jury selected the top three entries in each category before Sports Media Austria members voted to determine the category winners and subsequently the overall winner.
Erwin Scheriau of APA won the Photo category, while Anna Wielander and Matthias Balmetzhofer of Der Standard took the Writing award. They each received €1,000.
The €500 youth award went to ORF’s Megan Leybourne, who had also finished second in the Young Reporters Broadcasting category at the AIPS Sport Media Awards for her documentary “20 Years Red Bull Racing.”
The Sports Media Austria Award recognizes work by Austrian sports journalists across different media categories. The 2026 edition was the 23rd staging of the award, with 112 submissions considered.
