Why stones?

OCCRP asked its audience what the Corrupt Person of the Year Award trophy should look like and one reader proposed to take a cobblestone from the corrupt person’s home country and laser engrave it with a picture and dedication.

“When everything else fails, stones, bricks and cubes like these are often the only power people have in their fight against corrupt governments — the last tool for change,” the reader who submitted the idea wrote.

While laser engraving a cobblestone was deemed impractical, OCCRP decided to honor the original idea in the design of the virtual OCCRP Corrupt Person of the Year award.