Professional and amateur journalists are being called to apply for the Lorenzo Natali Media Prize by submitting their written TV, Radio or blog entries by August 2015.
Established in 1992, the Lorenzo Natali Journalism Prize was created to celebrate the work of journalists in revealing abuse, corruption and violence, and in giving a voice to the poorest and most vulnerable communities around the world.
This recognises that such efforts which are often undertaken in the face of violence, persecution and imprisonment are crucial to the successful establishment and protection of the universal values of respect of human rights and democracy that are at the heart of EU development policy.
The European Commission is organizing the Lorenzo Natali Prize as part of its efforts to promote development, human rights and democracy and help lift developing countries out of poverty.
In December, the European Commission will once again award journalists for their outstanding reporting on development and poverty eradication. The motto of the 2015 edition of the Prize is “Today’s stories can change our tomorrow” and it coincides with the 2015 European Year for Development.
The competition is open to professional journalists working for all different media types. However, new to the 2015 competition, amateur journalists, including bloggers, can also apply for the Prize.
To apply, interested professional and amateur journalists from the print, broadcast or online media who have written or reported on development and poverty eradication issues should upload their original journalistic work, either individually or, for jointly authored or produced items, as a group.
For journalistic works to qualify, they must be original with the authors having the copyright and the moral rights ownerships. Plagiarized works will be disqualified.
The prize is available in two categories: the professional journalist and amateur journalist categories. To qualify for the professional journalist’s category, an applicant must hold a press card and/or submit a journalistic piece that has been published/broadcast by a press organisation/media outlet. Journalists who do not meet the above criteria can apply for the amateur category.
Eligible entries must have been published in print, online, broadcast or have appeared in an agency dispatch between September 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015 in one of five regions: Africa; the Arab World and the Middle East; Asia and the Pacific; Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean.
There is neither a minimum or maximum length requirement for written stories nor maximum size for audio-visual works. Applicants are encouraged to upload the full-length of their work and if it exceeds the site limit, to share the link.
If entries are written or produced in one of the 24 official European Union languages, journalists are required to submit a summary in English of between 200 and 400 words.
Eligible entries will be assessed on:
- Relevance to development and poverty eradication;
- Originality of approach;
- Professional quality and investigative depth.
They will go through a phase of pre-selection with the top ten pieces in each category given to an independent Grand Jury consisting of seven people who are recognised figures in journalism, development and poverty eradication. The jury will choose the final winners.
There will be two prizes of one per category which will be awarded in each of the five regions while a Grand Prize will be awarded to one of the ten regional winners for the best piece of journalism.
The 10 winners will receive a trophy and prize of €5,000 while the winner of the Grand Prize will receive additional trophy and €5,000.
Applicants have until August 31, 2015, 23:59:59 Central European Time (CET) to submit their entries for the 2015 edition of the Lorenzo Natali Media Prize.
For full information, please visit https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/lnp/rules_en for eligibility criteria and http://lorenzonataliprize.eu/ to apply, find out more about the prize, previous winners and further details of the rules.
There is a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section at https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/lnp/faq_en for more questions.
The secretariat can be contacted through info@lorenzonatali.eu.
