PANOS-GKP JOURNALISM AWARDS 2004

Transparency, good governance and democracy:
Do ICTs increase accountability?

Panos and GKP are pleased to call for submissions for the 2004 "Reporting
on the Information Society" awards. The topic for this year is
"Transparency, good governance and democracy: Do Information and
Communication Technologies increase accountability?"

Four awards of $1,000 each will be made for the best journalism on this
topic produced by journalists in developing and transition countries.

These awards, which were launched by Panos and GKP in 2003, aim to
encourage and bring to international recognition thoughtful and incisive
reporting that goes beyond describing information projects or new
investment initiatives to analyse their social and political impacts and
policy implications.

Print, radio, TV and web journalism are all eligible.

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

The work submitted must have been published/broadcast between 1 January and
October 15 2004.

Deadline for submissions: Oct 15th 2004.

This year's theme:-
Transparency, good governance and democracy: Do ICTs increase accountability?

It is generally accepted by governments, communication specialists and the
development community that information and communication are essential for
development. The World Summit on the Information Society (2003), for
example, was convened "to harness the potential of information and
communication technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium
Declaration".

Among the most important ways information and communication technologies
(ICTs) can contribute to development are considered to be encouraging
information openness, speeding up processes of exchange of information, and
reducing opportunities for corruption. Good governance, said the United
Nations Human Development Report in 2001, depends on effective information
systems, and is crucial to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

ICTs may contribute to good governance in different ways. There are many
formal "e-governance" projects, such as digitising land records or voting
procedures, which aim to facilitate citizens' access to officialdom and
reduce opportunities for corruption. Citizens may gain new opportunities
for engaging in political processes, or for holding public and commercial
bodies accountable. On a more general level, internet and email may
facilitate civil society networking and action. More broadly still, there
is a global movement for freedom of information, and many governments and
businesses are having to redefine their policies on transparency.

But ICTs alone may not be enough to end deep-rooted habits or political
cultures of excluding citizens from access to information. In some
countries, governments are proving resistant to change, or projects to
improve access to information are reaching fewer people than expected.

These are important issues for journalists to investigate and analyse.

Panos and GKP invite journalists from developing and transition countries
to submit work that has been or will be published this year in their own
country or internationally, on aspects of communication, transparency and
good governance. The work may focus on the role of any technology-assisted
communication medium - internet and web, telephones, press, radio or
TV. It can be any form of journalism and in any medium.

About us:

Panos London 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 London is
part of a network of Panos Institutes 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

§ Only journalists who are citizens of or living in developing or
transition countries may apply.
§ The work submitted can be a piece of print, radio, TV or online journalism.
§ A journalist can submit as many pieces as s/he likes.
§ 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.
§ There is no maximum or minimum length
§ Submitted works should be stories or features relating to the question
of whether or how information and communication contribute to
transparency, good governance, democracy and accountability. The story can
focus on any technology-assisted communication medium, but it will extend
beyond merely reporting an event to analysing its significance in the light
of the wider development issues and the concept of the information society.
§ We are interested in stories that take account of gender aspects.
§ The work must have been published or broadcast between January 1st and
October 15th 2004 (or publication/broadcast must be confirmed to take place
before October 15th 2004) 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:

Name
Sex
Employment (eg "Business reporter with the Zambia Daily News")
Postal address
e-mail address
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 status and
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.

Panos will auto-acknowledge email entry/ies from each contestant. If you do
not receive one within 48 hours, please send your entries again.

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.

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.