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UNECA and Partners Call for Entries for
2005 AISI Media Awards
The United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA) and its partners have called for entries for
the 2005 AISI Media Awards which seek to engender more informed coverage
of the information society and ICT for development issues in Africa.
The AISI Media Awards were
introduced in 2003 to encourage more informed coverage of the information
society and ICT for development issues in Africa as part of ECA’s
Information Society Outreach and Communication Programme. The Awards are
aimed at individual journalists and media institutions based in Africa
that are “promoting journalism which contributes to a better understanding
of the information society in Africa.”
The aims of the Awards are to:
• Create greater awareness on
the role of ICTs in the development process within the framework of the
African Information Society Initiative (AISI);
• Support African media to
specialize and master ICTs and development issues thereby sharpening their
skills and knowledge base;
• Enhance access to information
on this subject area by various African stakeholders, thereby raising
greater awareness; and
• Stimulate national debates on
key issues and emerging trends.
The AISI Media Awards is an annual event to honour media institutions and
professionals. Details of the 2003 and 2004 AISI Media Awards can be found
at:
http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.htm
The deadline for the 2005 AISI
Media Awards programme is
31st July 2005.
Entries can be made in the following categories:
1. The AISI/GTZ Media Awards
2005
This Award has four
sub-categories:
Radio:
Programmes from commercial and national public radio stations, including
news, discussion, documentaries and features.
Print:
Articles from regional or national newspapers, including specialist
magazines.
Television/Video:
Factual (documentary and features) and news.
Community Media:
This category will examine nominations from local community media
(newspapers and community radio) that demonstrate innovative use and
appropriation of ICT applications.
Prizes for the four categories
will be as follows:
First Prize: US $3,000
Runner-up: US $1,500
2. AISI/IDRC Media Awards
2005
This Award has two
sub-categories:
IDRC/AISI Reporting ICT
Research and Innovation. This award is geared towards encouraging
media practitioners’ focus on issues related to ICT research and
innovations in Africa under the framework of the International Development
Research Centre's (IDRC) Acacia Programme. Research into the impact of
ICTs on African communities and information on ICT innovations, such as
WAP applications, the Simputer, or open source applications are important
areas that could have far reaching consequences for the development of
marginalized people. This award will therefore seek to encourage the
dissemination of this type of information through the media, by
acknowledging the best media report on ICT Research and/or innovations and
their relationship to the development of the African continent and its
people.
.IDRC/AISI Reporting on
ICT Policy. This award is to encourage increased reporting
on ICT policies (process and implementation) in Africa under the
frameworks of the International
Development Research Centre’s Acacia Programme and AISI. The objective is
to stimulate interest in the formulation and implementation of national
e-strategies in countries on the continent and to support informed
reporting by the media.
Entries will be considered
for print (articles), radio and television programmes
Prizes for the two
sub-categories will be as follows:
.
First Prize: US $3,000
Runner-up: US $1,500
3. AISI/IICD Media Awards
2005
This Award has two
sub-categories:
IICD/AISI Award on Local
Content Applications.
This award aims to recognize users of innovative or
pioneering applications of ICTs to local content defined as ''the
expression of the locally owned and adapted knowledge of a community" in
Africa. Applications can be from any sector and use of any medium with a
demonstrated link with ICTs that provide opportunities for local people to
interact and communicate with each other, expressing their own ideas,
knowledge and culture in their own languages.
IICD/AISI Media Award on
Local
Content.
This second IICD award will
recognize an outstanding story, campaign, or project in which the
significance of local knowledge and content is raised in local, national,
or regional fora.
Entries will be considered
for magazines, websites, radio and television programmes
Prizes for the two
sub-categories will be as follows:
First Prize: US $2,000
Runner-up: US $1,000
4. AISI/OSIWA Media Awards
2005
This Award has two
sub-categories:
OSIWA/AISI Best Female
Reporter on ICT4D Issues.
This category
recognizes female journalists on the continent and their interest and
reporting of ICT for development issues. The overall objective of this
award is to encourage women journalists to enter into reporting on
specialized fields such as information and communication technologies.
OSIWA/AISI Reporting on
ICTs and Rural
Communities.
This award is to support
and stimulate interest in the media to report on how ICTs can be used in
rural areas in Africa. OSIWA is assisting communities gain access to
independent information and uncensored media, and promoting diversity in
media ownership as a tool for increasing their participation in public
life. Under the ECA AISI framework, this award is aimed at encouraging the
media to report on strategies for democratizing access to the Information
Society.
Entries will be considered
for print (articles), radio and television programmes
Prizes for the two
sub-categories will be as follows:
US $3,000 for First prize
US $1,500 for Runner-up
5. AISI/GKP/SDC Media Awards
2005
This is a special category under
the 2005 AISI Media Awards programme aiming at recognizing journalists
reporting on the WSIS process and Africa. The Award aims to encourage
African journalists and bring to international recognition thoughtful and
incisive reporting on Africa and the WSIS process. The Awards will be made
for published journalism by African journalists (print, radio, TV or web)
that go beyond describing projects or new initiatives to analyse
broader questions such as the impact of ICTs on development in Africa and
Africa’s meaningful participation in the WSIS process. The winning entries
will be disseminated internationally and honoured at the second phase of
the WSIS scheduled to take place in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005.
Prizes for this category will be
as follows:
First Prize: US $2000
Runner-up: US $1000
More on AISI Media Awards
programme can be found at:
http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.htm
JUDGING
Judging will be based on the
entries for the stated category, and winners will be those, who in the
opinion of the Judges have made a significant contribution to promoting
and raising awareness on the information society in Africa in all the
areas mentioned.
CONDITIONS FOR ENTRY
1.
Conditions governing the Awards:
ECA has the right to reproduce and transmit in any media, for
non-commercial purposes, the work that has been selected.
ECA has the right to cancel the Awards at any time,
when the selected entities and individuals are found ineligible or don’t
fulfill the criteria laid down for the award.
The decision of the judges shall be final.
Members of the panel of judges for the Award and members of the sponsoring
institutions are not be eligible to submit an entry.
2.
Criteria for entries:
All entries must have been published and broadcasted by an African Media
institution during the year 2004/2005. Entries can be submitted in more
than one category but THREE COPIES OF ALL MATERIAL ARE NEEDED FOR EACH
CATEGORY ENTERED. SUBMISSIONS IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES SHOULD BE TRANSLATED
(in the case of print) and/or TRANSCRIBED INTO ENGLISH OR FRENCH for RADIO
AND TELEVISION PROGRAMMES.
Entries that cover only international issues are
ineligible unless, they relate to, and develop an understanding of,
current information society issues in Africa.
3.
Submission of Entries:
A FULLY COMPLETED
FORM MUST ACCOMPANY EACH SUBMISSION; OTHERWISE THE ENTRY WILL BE
DISQUALIFIED.
Entries must be
cassettes/CDs for radio and VHS/CD for TV and video entries and original
materials for print entries.
All material in a language other
than French and English must have translation and/or transcription
included in the submission.
Submissions can be in English, French, or Arabic.
Closing date for the 2005 AISI Media Awards:
31 July 2005
Closing date for AISI/GKP/SDC Special Category:
30 September 2005
Entries should be submitted to:
Ms. Kidist Belayneh (kbelayneh@uneca.org)
Economic Commission for Africa, AISI/GKP Media Award
DISD, 5th Floor, ECA Building, ECA, PO Box 3001, Menelik II Avenue
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Website: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.htm
4.
Winners:
The winners will be selected from
entries, which in the opinion of the Judges, make a significant
contribution to public awareness and understanding of the information
society, and which provide analysis on issues concerning access,
policy/regulatory environment, the social and economic impacts of ICT for
development. A public announcement will be made shortly after the
selection for all the categories.
The selection will be followed by an official notification from the ECA
and the respective partners for each category. The winning entries will
be disseminated internationally and honoured at the 2005 Highway Africa
Conference, which will take place in September 2005 in Grahamstown, South
Africa. For the AISI/GKP/SDC category, however, the Awards will be made at
the second phase of the WSIS scheduled to take place in Tunis from 16 to
18 November 2005.
For
further information, please contact Aida Opoku-Mensah
(aopoku-mensah@uneca.org) |
