Yoni Hilleli, until recently a Ma'ariv reporter in Haifa and the North, was chosen on Sunday (28.12.2014) to receive the 2015 Haifa Correspondent's Press Award.
The prize will be awarded at the media conference "Outside the Bubble II"
which will be held on January 29 at Haifa University.
Behind Hilleli are decades of journalistic work, mainly in the field of sports but also in a variety of news, criminal, human and social issues.
He signed off on the discovery of one of the most embarrassing affairs in Israeli sports, the recreation of the players of the Israeli soccer team with escort girls on the eve of a crucial game.
In the last two years, he devoted most of his time to the coverage and interpretation of sports and football mainly while demonstrating a vast and in-depth knowledge of the moves and processes in the field he covers. He regularly participates in the two flagship programs of the sports channel, on radio and television.
Hilleli is a professional journalist who lives in Haifa and being a northern journalist runs as the second thread in his work over the years.
He represents the city and its people for many years.
Yoni was elected yesterday during a meeting of members of the Haifa reporters' chamber at a restaurant in Carmel.
The structure of the media conference was also presented at the meeting.
Friends and friends! First I admit: the wording "The Press Award for 2015" is more pleasing to my ear than an award and recognition for "Mefal Haim", because to remind you not long ago I turned 55 and Mefal Haim is exaggerated and mostly petty.
But since you determine what the award is, what its essence is, what its content is and what its title is, I accept with love and especially with a lot of respect for the choice.
In my opinion, there is nothing stronger than the choice of colleagues for the profession, therefore it inspires me quite a bit and also excites me.
And how lucky that I didn't make it to the meeting and didn't make a fool of myself, because the truth is - I didn't even know I was a candidate...
And before I finish, I remember that they always say that one picture is worth a thousand words, and I say that sometimes a short sentence like "There is nothing worthy of you..." or "Yoni, dear friend..." conjures up a thousand pictures in my head...
Thank you all