German Development Media Awards now open to African journalists

Good news for African human rights and development journalists. The German Development Media Awards have gone global and are now open to reporters from many parts of the world, including Africa. The deadline for submissions is 31 May, 2013.

There are two types of awards up for grabs for African reporters: the human rights journalism award and the People’s Choice photography award.

For the human rights award, journalists can submit any type of format found in print, online, TV and radio reporting. This includes (among other things) articles and feature stories, radio and TV news reports and documentaries and innovative multimedia projects. Regardless of its format, the report must clearly focus on human rights and development issues.

Entries for the People’s Choice photography award must portray a human rights issue.

Independent reporting vital for human rights

“Journalism and human rights are closely linked,” said Michael Windfuhr, from the German Institute for Human Rights at the recent launch of the German Development Media Awards in Berlin.

“One significant connection is that journalists regularly expose human rights violations and give victims a voice by probing, researching, documenting and generally being troublesome,” he said.

Speaking at the launch, DW Akademie’s Managing Director Gerda Meuer stressed that as well as encouraging critical human rights reporting, the awards also aimed to “highlight success stories and innovative approaches to development”.

Deutsche Welle, together the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is administering the awards. This year seven prizes worth 2,000 euros each will be presented as part of the awards and each winner will be invited to Berlin to attend the awards ceremony on August 14, 2013.

Revamped awards with long tradition

The German Development Media Awards, which were first presented back in 1975, were originally designed to honor German journalists.

As of this year, though, the award criteria have been expanded to allow journalists not only from Africa but also from Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Germany to apply.

By reporting on human rights issues, journalists can help give people a voice

This change highlights the important role that journalists in emerging countries can play in shaping the direction and success of development projects.

“We don’t want only German journalists to let us know what is happening in developing and emerging countries, we want the journalists who are from there to tell us what is going on,” Meuer said.

For DW Akademie and BMZ, the awards are a chance to champion independent media across the world and put the spotlight on journalists telling important stories affecting their communities, countries and regions

“I believe in the power of words, I believe in quality journalism, and I want quality journalists in the countries where DW Akademie is active to be supported and to be able to continue to do their work,” Meuer said.

Check the entry criteria carefully

To be eligible in the first place, journalists not only have to come from one of the nominated regions (such as Africa), they also have to live in the region and and work for a media organization headquartered there.

The entries for the awards must also have been published or broadcast between January 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013.

Entries can be in one of seven competition languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian or Spanish. Entries in other languages broadcast by Deutsche Welle will also be accepted if accompanied by a translation in one of the seven core languages.

If you have seen, heard or read a brilliant piece of human rights journalism, you can also nominate someone else for the awards.

And journalists and photographers shouldn’t take too long dithering over their submissions. The deadline for both online and postal entries is May 31, 2013 with no exceptions!

For more information, check out the German Development Media Awards website and the conditions of entry. The awards are also on facebook.