An infographic design submitted by young journalists Gabriel Orihuela, Elizabeth Ortiz, and graphic designer José Juan González Morales from Mexico has won the UNESCO and Visual.ly infographic design contest for its clear depiction of the dangers journalists face and the detrimental effects of impunity.
To commemorate the first International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) on November 2, 2014, UNESCO and Visual.ly, the online graphic community website, teamed up to raise awareness on the grim issue of violence against journalists through an infographic design contest.
The main goals of the contest was to raise awareness of the issues of impunity for crimes against journalists as well as to design visually creative and educational material which can be shared through social media networks.
Journalists and media workers face dangerous challenges every day and pay a heavy toll in the pursuit of their profession with a journalist losing his/her life per week on average. According to the new UNESCO Director-General’s report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, nine out of ten cases of the killing of journalists and media workers remain unsolved.
Visual.ly and UNESCO recorded an unprecedented level of quality submission during the infographic contest. Over 130 submissions in 5 different languages were received, all of exceedingly high quality. Nineteen of the submissions were said to be so good, they had to have an honorable mentions section to publicly recognize all the hard work their designers put into them.
The judges of the infographic contest were Ming Kuok Lim, UNESCO Program Specialist, focusing on freedom of expression, with special attention on press freedom; Sylvie Coudray, Chief of UNESCO’s program on Freedom of Expression; Neil Ford, UNESCO’s Director of Public Information; and Drew Skau, Visual.ly’s Visualization Architect.
The judging criteria for entries for the contest were listed as:
- Infographic looks forward and promotes a constructive discussion on impunity. This could involve hashtags, open questions etc.
- Data is represented clearly and accurately. Information sources other than the original document must be credited.
- The infographic’s design should be attractive and captivating without detracting from the communication of the information. Illustrations, layout, font, and color choices are all important. This is a sad issue, but the infographic doesn’t need to look depressing to communicate the weight of the topic. This should be something that people are eager to share as a trigger to open up insightful discussion.
Each judge got 10 points per category. All categories were totaled for each group. Highest total won the contest.
The contest winner received $2,000 from UNESCO. There may be opportunities for the top entries to work directly with UNESCO on future projects. The winning infographic and all honorable mentions are currently receiving the highest promotional coverage at the United Nations level. There are also opportunities for pickup by UNESCO’s international media partners.
