A call is being made to all Pacific reporters and journalism students to submit entries to the 2010 Vision Pasifika Media Award launched by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
This year the theme for the award is “Value Island Biodiversity – It’s Our Life” as part of the International Year of Biodiversity celebration. The Vision Pasifika Media Award is an opportunity for Pacific media to showcase their role in helping to raise awareness on our Pacific biodiversity.
“SPREP understands the important role of the Pacific media in helping to protect and preserve our natural surroundings which provide so many Pacific communities with their livelihoods,” said Easter Galuvao the Biodiversity Adviser at SPREP.
“Pacific biodiversity has global significance, but it is also in danger of extinction and for our region, this is a concern. It is our environment that has helped shaped our culture, Pacific identity and provided us with incomes, as our slogan says – ‘It’s our Life’ . We congratulate the media within the region for producing the news stories to raise the awareness about our biodiversity and this award is just one way that we can express our appreciation.”
The Vision Pasifika Media Award has five categories; Print, Radio, Television, Journalism Student and Best Overall. Entries are open to journalists residing in any of SPREP’s island member countries or territories and must have been published or broadcast over the period of 1 January to 31 December 2010. Prize money of 500 USD is awarded to the winning entries under each category.
Stories could showcase community projects, highlight how people are benefitting from biodiversity, promote good environment practices or even be more investigative in style however they do not need to be limited to these suggestions. Any story that encompasses the need to protect or value our island biodiversity should be submitted.
The Pacific Islands News Association and PACNEWS endorse the Vision Pasifika Media Award and encourage all Pacific reporters to submit entries.
“We are honored to be part of this regional media award that recognises the contribution of journalists toward environment reporting. This award is an incentive for journalists to pursue their interests in covering environmental issues and how they are impacting on the livelihoods of Pacific peoples.”
This is the second year for the Vision Pasifika Media Award, in 2009 the award was a partnership with WWF and focused on the theme “Climate Change”, for which over 30 entries were received. Mr. Anish Chand of Fiji Television was awarded the best overall and Television News category, Mr. Moffat Mamu of the Solomon Star News won the print category and Ms. Rachna Lal and Ms. Kalpana Prasad were awarded the student category for their story in USP Student publication, Wansolwara.
The Vision Pasifika Media Award is also supported by the European Commission and the United Nations Environment Programme as part of an African, Caribbean and Pacific countries project to help countries implement Multilateral Environment Agreements.
For further details on this award please contact SPREP’s Associate Media and Publications officer Ms. Nanette Woonton at E: nanettew@sprep.org
To download the Vision Pasifika Media Award entry form please visit: http://www.sprep.org/biodiversity/ybd/documents/SPREPMediaAwardFinal2.pdf
Glad to see that SPREP is encouraging media interest in biodiversity.
ReplyDeleteEncouraging also that SPREP will welcome investigative pieces, as controversial as these often are.
Good luck with this initiative. I'd also encourage SPREP to look into partnering with media organisations to provide resources for more widespread and permanent reporting, as is happening around the world.