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 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.