diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 07bf07c..2b4d9e4 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -802,6 +802,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-subscriber",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ryu"
+version = "1.0.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1ad4cc8da4ef723ed60bced201181d83791ad433213d8c24efffda1eec85d741"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "scoped-futures"
 version = "0.1.3"
@@ -847,6 +853,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "serde_json"
+version = "1.0.103"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d03b412469450d4404fe8499a268edd7f8b79fecb074b0d812ad64ca21f4031b"
+dependencies = [
+ "itoa",
+ "ryu",
+ "serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_spanned"
 version = "0.6.3"
@@ -1135,6 +1152,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing-subscriber",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tracing-serde"
+version = "0.1.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bc6b213177105856957181934e4920de57730fc69bf42c37ee5bb664d406d9e1"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+ "tracing-core",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tracing-subscriber"
 version = "0.3.17"
@@ -1142,11 +1169,14 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "30a651bc37f915e81f087d86e62a18eec5f79550c7faff886f7090b4ea757c77"
 dependencies = [
  "nu-ansi-term",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_json",
  "sharded-slab",
  "smallvec",
  "thread_local",
  "tracing-core",
  "tracing-log",
+ "tracing-serde",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
diff --git a/backend/rvoc-backend/Cargo.toml b/backend/rvoc-backend/Cargo.toml
index c9751a9..137dbb9 100644
--- a/backend/rvoc-backend/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backend/rvoc-backend/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ tokio = {version = "1.29.1", features = []}
 
 # logging and telemetry
 tracing = "0.1.37"
-tracing-subscriber = "0.3.17"
+tracing-subscriber = {version = "0.3.17", features = ["fmt", "json"]}
 tracing-opentelemetry = "0.19.0"
 
 # database
diff --git a/backend/rvoc-backend/src/bin.rs b/backend/rvoc-backend/src/bin.rs
index c868803..4810f14 100644
--- a/backend/rvoc-backend/src/bin.rs
+++ b/backend/rvoc-backend/src/bin.rs
@@ -4,17 +4,22 @@ use diesel_async::{
     pooled_connection::{deadpool::Pool, AsyncDieselConnectionManager},
     AsyncPgConnection,
 };
-use tokio::runtime::Builder;
 use tracing::{error, info, instrument};
 
 mod configuration;
 mod error;
 
 pub fn main() -> RVocResult<()> {
+    // Load configuration
     let configuration = Configuration::from_environment()?;
 
+    // Setup tracing
+    tracing_subscriber::fmt()
+        .event_format(tracing_subscriber::fmt::format().json())
+        .init();
+
     info!("Building tokio runtime...");
-    let runtime = Builder::new_current_thread()
+    let runtime = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .build()
         .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("Cannot create tokio runtime: {:?}", e));