Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
African Information Society Initiative (AISI)

Announcement - 2005 AISI Media Awards

Deadline for Applications: 31 July 2005
Deadline for Application – AISI/GKP/SDC Special Category: 30 September 2005

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and its partners are pleased to
announce the 2005 AISI Media Awards.

The AISI Media Awards were introduced in 2003 to encourage more informed
coverage of the information society and ICT for development issues in
Africa as part of ECA’s Information Society Outreach and Communication
Programme. The Awards are aimed at individual journalists and media
institutions based in Africa that are “promoting journalism which
contributes to a better understanding of the information society in Africa.
Although the media in Africa are beginning to report on ICT issues, there
is still a wide gap in their knowledge and comprehension of the subject in
relation to development trends within their national context. The aims are to:

Create greater awareness on the role of ICTs in the development process
within the framework of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI);
Support African media to specialize and master ICTs and development
issues thereby sharpening their skills and knowledge base;
Enhance access to information on this subject area by various African
stakeholders, thereby raising greater awareness; and
Stimulate national debates on key issues and emerging trends.

The AISI Media Awards is intended to be an annual event to honour media
institutions and professionals. The winners of the 2004 Awards were
announced in September 2004 at the Highway Africa Conference held in
Grahmstown, South Africa. Details of the 2003 and 2004 AISI Media Awards
can be found at: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.htm [2]

AISI Media Awards 2005

The deadline for the 2005 AISI Media Awards programme is 31st July 2005.
Entries can be made in the following categories:

1. The AISI/GTZ Media Awards 2005

This Award has four sub-categories:

Radio: Programmes from commercial and national public radio
stations, including news, discussion, documentaries and features.

Print: Articles from regional or national newspapers, including
specialist magazines.

Television/Video: Factual (documentary and features) and news.

Community Media: This category will examine nominations from local
community media (newspapers and community radio) that demonstrate
innovative use and appropriation of ICT applications.

Prizes for the four categories will be as follows:

First Prize: US $3,000
Runner-up: US $1,500

2. AISI/IDRC Media Awards 2005

This Award has two sub-categories:

IDRC/AISI Reporting ICT Research and Innovation. This award is
geared towards encouraging Media practitioners’ focus on issues related to
ICT research and innovations in Africa under the framework of the
International Development Research Centre's (IDRC) Acacia Programme.
Research into the impact of ICTs on African communities and information on
ICT innovations, such as WAP applications, the Simputer, or open source
applications are important areas that could have far reaching consequences
for the development of marginalized people. This award will therefore seek
to encourage the dissemination of this type of information through the
media, by acknowledging the best media report on ICT Research and/or
innovations and their relationship to the development of the African
continent and its people.

IDRC/AISI Reporting on ICT Policy. This award is to encourage
increased reporting on ICT policies (process and implementation) in Africa
under the frameworks of the International Development Research Centre’s
Acacia Programme and ECA’s Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI).
The objective is to stimulate interest in the formulation and
implementation of national e-strategies in countries on the continent and
to support informed reporting by the media.

Entries will be considered for print (articles), radio and television
programmes

Prizes for the two sub-categories will be as follows:

First Prize: US $3,000
Runner-up: US $1,500

3. AISI/IICD Media Awards 2005

This Award has two sub-categories:

IICD/AISI Award on Local Content Applications. This award aims to
recognize users of innovative or pioneering applications of ICTs to local
content defined as ''the expression of the locally owned and adapted
knowledge of a community" in Africa. Applications can be from any sector
and use of any medium with a demonstrated link with ICTs that provide
opportunities for local people to interact and communicate with each other,
expressing their own ideas, knowledge and culture in their own languages.

IICD/AISI Media Award on Local Content. This second IICD award will
recognize an outstanding story, campaign, or project in which the
significance of local knowledge and content is raised in local, national,
or regional fora.

Entries will be considered for magazines, websites, radio and television
programmes

Prizes for the two sub-categories will be as follows:

First Prize: US $2,000
Runner-up: US $1,000

4. AISI/OSIWA Media Awards 2005

This Award has two sub-categories:

¨ OSIWA/AISI Best Female Reporter on ICT4D Issues. This category
recognizes female journalists on the continent and their interest and
reporting of ICT for development issues. The overall objective of this
award is to encourage women journalists to enter into reporting on
specialized fields such as information and communication technologies.

¨ OSIWA/AISI Reporting on ICTs and Rural Communities. This award is
to support and stimulate interest in the media to report on how ICTs can be
used in rural areas in Africa. OSIWA is assisting communities gain access
to independent information and uncensored media, and promoting diversity in
media ownership as a tool for increasing their participation in public
life. Under the ECA AISI framework, this award is aimed at encouraging the
media to report on strategies for democratizing access to the Information
Society.

Entries will be considered for print (articles), radio and television
programmes

Prizes for the two sub-categories will be as follows:

US $3,000 for First prize
US $1,500 for Runner-up

5. AISI/GKP/SDC Media Awards 2005

This is a special category under the 2005 AISI Media Awards programme
aiming at recognising journalists reporting on the WSIS process and Africa.
The Award aims to encourage African journalists and bring to international
recognition thoughtful and incisive reporting on Africa and the WSIS
process. The Awards will be made for published journalism by African
journalists (print, radio, TV or web) that go beyond describing projects or
new initiatives to analyse broader questions such as the impact of ICTs on
development in Africa and Africa’s meaningful participation in the WSIS
process. The winning entries will be disseminated internationally and
honoured at the second phase of the WSIS scheduled to take place in Tunis
from 16 to 18 November 2005.

Prizes for this category will be as follows:

First Prize: US $2000
Runner-up: US $1000

More on AISI Media Awards programme: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.htm [2]

JUDGING

Judging will be based on the entries for the stated category, and winners
will be those, who in the opinion of the Judges have made a significant
contribution to promoting and raising awareness on the information society
in Africa in all the areas mentioned.

CONDITIONS FOR ENTRY

1. Conditions governing the Awards:

ECA has the right to reproduce and transmit in any media, for
non-commercial purposes, the work that has been selected.

ECA has the right to cancel the Awards at any time, when the selected
entities and individuals are found ineligible or don’t fulfil the criteria
laid down for the award.

The decision of the judges shall be final.

Members of the panel of judges for the Award and members of the sponsoring
institutions shall not be eligible to submit an entry.

2. Criteria for entries:

All entries must have been published and broadcasted by an African Media
institution during the year 2004/2005. Entries can be submitted in more
than one category but THREE COPIES OF ALL MATERIAL ARE NEEDED FOR EACH
CATEGORY ENTERED. Also, SUBMISSIONS IN AFRICAN LANGUAGES SHOULD BE
TRANSLATED (in the case of print) and/or TRANSCRIBED INTO ENGLISH OR FRENCH
for RADIO AND TV PROGRAMMES.

Entries that cover only international issues are ineligible unless, they
relate to, and develop an understanding of, current information society
issues in Africa.

3. Submission of Entries:

A FULLY COMPLETED FORM MUST ACCOMPANY EACH SUBMISSION; OTHERWISE THE ENTRY
WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.

Entries must be cassettes/CDs for radio and VHS/CD for TV and video entries
and original materials for print entries.

All material in a language other than French and English must have
translation and/or transcription included in the submission.

Submissions can be in English, French, or Arabic.

Closing date for the 2005 AISI Media Awards: 31 July 2005
Closing date for AISI/GKP/SDC Special Category: 30 September 2005
Submit to:

Ms. Kidist Belayneh ([email protected] [3])
ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA, AISI/GKP MEDIA AWARD
DISD, 5th Floor, ECA Building, ECA, PO Box 3001, Menelik II Avenue
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Website: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.htm [2]

4. Winners:

The winners will be selected from entries, which in the opinion of the
Judges, make a significant contribution to public awareness and
understanding of the information society, and which provide analysis on
issues concerning access, policy/regulatory environment, the social and
economic impacts of ICT for development. A public announcement will be made
shortly after the selection for all the categories.

The selection will be followed by an official notification from the ECA and
the respective partners for each category.

The winning entries will be disseminated internationally and honoured at
the 2005 Highway Africa Conference, which will take place in September 2005
in Grahamstown, South Africa. For the AISI/GKP/SDC category, however, the
Awards will be made at the second phase of the WSIS scheduled to take place
in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005.

For further information, please contact Aida Opoku-Mensah
([email protected] [4])

[END]

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