“2008 Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press” announced 
Now open to candidates from eight more Arab countries

The third "Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press", awarded by the EC Delegation to Lebanon in association with the Samir Kassir Foundation, has been launched. One journalist and one researcher will be awarded.

This year, as a sign of the European Commission’s commitment to the promotion of human rights and freedom of expression in the Mediterranean region and the Arab world, the award is open to candidates who are nationals of eight additional countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Libya, Qatar, Kuwait, and Yemen.

Read more.
 

The MDG Media Awards encourage journalists (print, radio and TV) to put a human face to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the region, demonstrating how stories about extreme poverty link to the MDGs.
Entries don't have to cover all eight MDGs, but could focus on one. Entries close 15 April 2007.

The range of content for the media awards is enormous. Suggested ideas include:

• A person or family's struggle to ease hunger and fight disease (MDG Goal 1)
• Success story of an AIDS victim and the role government, civil society and other institutions play into that family's ordeal. (MDG Goal 6)
• Young peoples concerns with climate change and air quality (MDG Goal 7)
• A `day in the life' of a rural child trying to obtain an education (MDG Goal 2)

Reference to the MDGs (whether one or all MDG Goals) in your content is mandatory. The competition is open to all print, radio and TV producers/journalists from public service broadcasting organizations, private networks and free-lance producers covering the Asia and the Pacific. The Awards carry a prize of USD 7,000 for first prize winners
in each category, and a USD 2,000 prize for runners up.

Entries can be in English and in the local language with appropriate English translations.

We accept entries for broadcast in various formats, such as documentaries, special and feature reports, current affairs programme, talk shows of a serious of ten-minute feature reports. They should be at least 15 minutes to give substance to the presentation of the topic. For print, formats can be a special report, feature and investigative piece.

The deadline for the submission of entries to the 1st Asia-Pacific Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Media Awards, which honor outstanding reporting/writing on the MDGs in print, radio and TV has been extended to 15 April 2007.

Click here for entry forms, contest rules and this message in PDF.
Click here for more information about the MDGs in Asia-Pacific.

The Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) acts as the secretariat for the Awards.

Please contact:
Mr. Jose Ma. G. Carlos
AIBD Programme Manager
Tel: (+60) 3 22822761 / 22823719
E-mail: joecarlos@aibd.org.my

For further queries regarding the UNESCAP/UNDP/ADB
MDG Project, please contact:
Mr. Ravi Ratnayake
Director, Poverty and Development Division
UNESCAP
Tel: (+66) 2288 1902
E-mail: ratnayaker@un.org