November 12, 2009

Catalyzing Coverage of Climate Change

Internews Announces 15 Winners of Earth Journalism Awards

Internews announced the fifteen winners of the Earth Journalism Awards today, and opened the online public voting to find the winner of a sixteenth prize. The finalists were selected out of some 900 journalists, bloggers and young creatives from 148 countries who registered to send in their best climate change reports from 2009 in the lead up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month.

“The Earth Journalism Awards were established to boost climate change coverage in this critical year leading up to Copenhagen, and to highlight the efforts of journalists reporting on this challenging subject around the world,” says James Fahn, Internews’ Global Director of Environmental Programs. “We were overwhelmed by the tremendous response we received, and would like to thank the hundreds of journalists who entered their stories for participating.”

Winning stories include: a compelling account from Pakistan of how a small coastal community is responding to the multiple challenges that climate change is already posing them; a multi-media investigation on the use and effects of fire in the Amazon; and a business report from East Africa on how Kenyan companies are missing out on the growing global carbon credits market.  They were chosen through a process involving a globe-spanning, independent jury that involved over 100 media and climate change experts.

"As a member of the Earth Journalism Awards' international jury, it is a pleasure to see the depth of coverage from around the world for this important subject,”  says Nadia El Awady, President of the World Federation of Science Journalists. “We need to support these journalists however we can in their efforts to inform the public and policy-makers, and this awards program is a wonderful way to give them both practical support and more recognition."

Internews is inviting the winners of the Earth Journalism Awards to cover the negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, (COP15) December 7-18. There they will receive support from Internews to report on the negotiations to their media organizations back home.  They will also attend a high profile awards ceremony, to be co-hosted by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, at the Danish Radio Hall on December 14, the eve of the final high-level negotiations.  Each of the fifteen winners will receive one of the coveted regional or thematic awards as determined by the independent juries.

Through December 9, the public has the opportunity to vote for one winner of the Global Public Prize – the story or series that they think should have the attention of the negotiators in the closing days of the negotiations. Capitalizing on the power of social media, votes will be counted on Twitter and Facebook, as well as directly through the awards web site.

“Through an array of social web technologies such as the Twitter and Facebook APIs, we will be counting the votes for specific stories and tracking which issues resonate most strongly with the public as the world looks towards Copenhagen.”says Jun Matsushita, Head of Technology for the Awards.  “We are keen to see just how the power of online social networking can be used to generate interest and debate around the 15 winning stories as the negotiations enter the final stages.”

The Earth Journalism Awards is being implemented by Internews in association with partners  that include the Government of Denmark, hosts of the negotiations; The World Bank; MTV International, the leading global broadcaster and youth brand; The Government of Italy, The V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation; the Edgerton Family Fund; Flip Video Spotlight; the Open Society Network; WWF International; The Global Canopy Programme; and the Tcktcktck campaign, part of the GCCA, the international alliance of campaigning NGOs that includes Oxfam, WWF, and Greenpeace.

Earth Journalism Awards