GKP/Panos Media Award
Reporting on the Information Society
Announcement

The inaugural "Reporting on the Information Society" awards, given jointly
by the Global Knowledge Partnership and Panos, aim to encourage and bring to
international recognition thoughtful and incisive reporting on developing
countries' progress to becoming "Information Societies."

Four awards of $2,000 each will be made for published journalism by
developing country journalists (print, radio, TV or web) that goes beyond
describing projects or new investment initiatives to analyse broader
questions such as the social impact of ICTs, particularly on rural or
disadvantaged groups, or national and global communication policy issues.

The winning entries will be disseminated internationally and honoured at the
World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, December 2003.

To submit a piece of work for consideration, send a clipping, audio orvideo
tape, transcript or web reference by email to: [email protected]
; or by post to:
Kitty Warnock, Panos Institute, 9 White Lion St, London N1 9PD, UK

Deadline for submissions: Oct 15th 2003

For any enquiries about the award process, contact Kitty Warnock at
[email protected]

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The Panos Institute is an NGO which exists to stimulate debate on global
development issues, including media and communication issues. Panos works
with journalists in developing countries to produce news, features and
analysis about the most critical global issues of today. Panos works from
offices in eleven countries.

The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is a worldwide network of
organizations committed to harnessing the potentials of information and
communication technologies (ICT) for sustainable development. GKP is the
world's first multistakeholder ICT for Development (ICT4D) partnership at
the global level, with members comprising governments, donor agencies,
private sector companies, civil society, networks and international
institutions.

Submission criteria and instructions

* Journalists who are citizens of or living in developing countries may
apply. ("Developing country" is as defined by the UN)
* The work submitted can be a piece of print, radio, TV or online
journalism.
* Types of print/web article that will be considered include news
reports, features, analysis, interviews, opinion/think pieces, and
editorials. Broadcast pieces can also include debates and phone-in
programmes.
* Submitted works should be stories or features relating to the concept
of an "information society" and what this means for your country or region.
The story can focus on any communication medium (from the internet to
traditional songs) but it will extend beyond merely reporting an event to
analysing its significance in the light of wider development issues and the
concept of the information society.
* The work must have already been published or broadcast, and you must
provide evidence of this - a newspaper clipping, web reference or
broadcasting schedule (or details of broadcasting - station, time, date,
name of programme).
* Video material should be submitted in PAL format. Audio material can be
submitted on cassette, or as MP3 files.
* Print or online submissions can be in English, French, Spanish or
Portuguese. Radio or audiovisual submissions in languages other than English
must be accompanied by a full transcript in English.
* Please give the following information with your submission:
o Name
o Sex
o Employment (eg "Business reporter with the Zambia Daily News")
o Postal address
o e-mail address
o Telephone number
* Your covering letter (in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese) should
give some information about the medium in which your submission was
published eg national or local newspaper, national or community radio.

* If your submission was originally in a non-European language, please
state what language it is in, and give some information about the statusand
users of this language (eg "It is the language of the xx people, who live in
xxxx. This language is not the main language of the state, but there is one
newspaper and two radio stations that use it.")
* Please indicate briefly some other stories about communication issues
that you would like to research and report on, for which you might use the
award if you received it.
* Reports that were commissioned by Panos are not eligible for this
award.

Selection criteria
* We will seek to make one award to a journalist from Africa, one to a
journalist from Asia and one from another region; we will seek to award at
least one to a woman journalist. However, these categories are not fixed.
* We are looking for journalism that builds understanding of the
importance of communication for development; and that stimulates awareness
of the impact of national and global communication policies on
development.

END