March 27 - AGERPRES Anniversary Day
On March 27, 2026 National News Agency AGERPRES marks 137 years since its founding.
From telegraph, to telex, then to the internet, and currently to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the AI app, AGERPRES has uninterruptedly continued its public information mission.
On March 15/27, 1889, the Telegraphic Agency of Romania, also known as the Romanian Agency - 'Agence Telegraphique de Roumanie' or 'Roumagence' was established as the first 'Romanian, national and autonomous' press agency. Over time, it operated under several names: the Telegraphic Agency of Romania or the Romanian Agency (1889 - 1917), the 'Orient-Radio' Romanian Telegraphic Agency - RADOR (1921 - 1949), the Romanian News Agency - AGERPRES (1949 - 1989), the National News Agency ROMPRES (1990 - 2008), and, since 2008, the National News Agency AGERPRES.
The document certifying the establishment of the first Romanian news agency
Photo credit: Alex TUDOR / AGERPRES Photo
National News Agency AGERPRES - Teleprinter, Bucharest, September 9, 1958
Photo credit: Maria POSTELNICU / AGERPRES historic archive
*** AGERPRES in the 21st century
Over the past 26 years, AGERPRES has gone through several stages of technological development.
In the 1990s, the information distributed by the agency was printed daily in news bulletins; with the advent of the internet, these began reaching subscribers electronically and later the general public through online platforms. AGERPRES editors moved from sending information by fax to using e-mail, and eventually to a dedicated journalistic console.
Since 2005, the ROMPRES/AGERPRES Archive containing news starting from January 1, 2000 has also been accessible in digital format.
The AGERPRES Audio service was introduced.
Since 2006, the National News Agency AGERPRES has been the exclusive distributor of EPA and XINHUA photo streams.
In 2009, AGERPRES launched its Feature service, RealTimeMonitoring (ARTM), and the Press Releases feed.
A new interface for the website www.agerpres.ro was created in 2010. In the same year, AGERPRES developed special pages dedicated to the Football World Cups.
On September 17, 2013, the new AGERPRES website www.agerpres.ro was launched, featuring a new visual identity, new online communication platforms, all under a new slogan - 'Update the World'. Three years later, in the autumn of 2016, the first Facebook Messenger NewsBot in Romania, AGERPRES NewsBot, was introduced, along with the Hungarian-language news feed.
On April 26, 2023, the National News Agency AGERPRES launched on the European institutional platform for digital asset trading - ICI D|SERVICES (ICI Decentralized Services) its first NFT collections 'Memories of Future Self', representing photographs from the AGERPRES archive.
*** AGERPRES - partnerships and distinctions
The agency is a partner of more than 40 news agencies worldwide.
In 2014, the Royal House of Romania awarded AGERPRES the 'Nihil Sine Deo' distinction on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the founding of the first Romanian news agency.
National News Agency AGERPRES - Photo library, 02.07.1952
Photo credit: AGERPRES historic archive
In November 2019, the agency won for the 15th time (since 1999) the Trophy in the 'News Agencies' category awarded by the organizers of the Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair.
On March 27, 2023, on AGERPRES Day, National Stamp Company Romfilatelia launched, as part of the partnership between the two institutions, a postal stationery with a fixed postmark.
In 2025, for the third time after 2019 and 2022, the Royal House of Romania granted the National News Agency AGERPRES the status of Supplier to the Royal House of Romania, for its news feed, photographic services, and press monitoring.
In recent years, AGERPRES has received several awards, including:
* The Award for excellence in managing copyright and educating readers and clients, at the Copyright and Related Rights Gala, Mass-Media category (2018)
* The distinction 'News Agency of the Year 2020', awarded by CFA Romania for unbiased presentation of information and for being the main source of economic and financial news in the media (2021)
* The Special Award for promoting high-quality economic information, granted by the Bucharest Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2021)
* The Myosotis Award (for objective information activity) at the RDM Summer Gala 2023, summer edition of the Radar de Media Awards (June), and the Myosotis Award (for promoting the photographic archive through modern means) at the Radar de Media Awards 2023, autumn edition (November)
* The Montecatini Journalism Award 2025 for the international section, granted to journalist Cristian Lupascu of the National News Agency AGERPRES, for his reports, stories, photographs and video recordings from war zones.
*** AGERPRES - editorial projects
In March 2019, the National News Agency AGERPRES, which was back then celebrating 130 years of activity, joined the consortium of news agencies producing the European Data News Hub (EDNH), a reference website for major European issues. The site is funded by the European Commission and enjoys full editorial independence, being available in seven languages - English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian and Romanian (the last two based on content provided by AGERPRES).
Also, in September 2022, the National News Agency AGERPRES became part of the 'European Newsroom (enr)' project, officially launched in Brussels - a cooperation initiative involving 18 European news agencies, aimed at improving media coverage of EU-related topics and strengthening the media sector.
On October 21, 2024, AGERPRES and the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics Bucharest, with the support of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Transformation, launched the project 'Agerpres Daily News | Hold History', designed to combat disinformation and promote quality journalism through the use of blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Also in 2024, on November 15, ICI Bucharest and AGERPRES launched the project 'AI Application - Agerpres News', followed on December 10 by the second stage, transitioning from the national news feed to the regional one.
In 2026, the National News Agency AGERPRES will carry out projects dedicated to the Constantin Brancusi Year and the Nadia Comaneci Year.
*** AGERPRES - history in images
Since a picture is worth more than a thousand words, AGERPRES has made history through images. From photographs taken on glass plates, then on film, and later digitally, to footage produced and edited by the agency's video journalists, the National News Agency can proudly say it has captured history.
The AGERPRES photographic archive contains, from 1927 to the present, hundreds of thousands of films and approximately 5,000 photographic plates, each film having between 20 and 40 frames, while each plate is unique.
In 2014, the agency also launched its first e-book, titled 'AGERPRES 125. Evolution After Revolution', which includes 125 photographs from the institution's archive.
In 2018, the Centenary of the Great Union was marked by numerous events both in Romania and abroad. At the UN Headquarters in New York, the photo exhibition 'Romania: Evolution' was opened, and the namesake accompanying album - a special edition for the Centenary - was unveiled, containing 100 photographs from Romania grouped into three chapters: Archive, Revolution, Evolution. On February 22, 2018, AGERPRES released the video documentary 'The Great Union - Romania 100 Years On', created especially for the Centenary celebrations.
Over the years, AGERPRES has organized numerous photo exhibitions on various themes.
The National News Agency AGERPRES has also organized, over time, a series of events of interest both to the journalistic field and to the general public, among the most recent being:
* the international conference 'News Agencies in the 21st Century - Respecting Copyright Is the Key to Media Evolution' (2015)
* the conference 'Protection of Journalists and Press Freedom' (2016)
* the conference of the European Alliance of News Agencies - EANA (co-organized by AGERPRES, 2018)
* a research and technological development project initiated by ICI Bucharest and AGERPRES, exploring how blockchain technologies and crypto assets (NFTs) can become essential tools for distributing news and information in the era of new technologies (2023)
* the conference 'AGERPRES 135: The AI Era, Innovations and Digital Challenges in Contemporary Journalism', marking 135 years since the founding of the first Romanian press agency, organized in partnership with the 'Carol I' Central University Library, accompanied by a photo exhibition featuring images from major events covered by AGERPRES; a philatelic product dedicated to the anniversary was also launched with the support of Romfilatelia (2024). AGERPRES (Documentary research: Irina Andreea Cristea, editing: Marina Ionescu; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)
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