Minority Voices Young Journalist Award

Updated, 4 Feb 2011: The applications are now closed for this award. We are currently processing applications. If you have applied for this award and not yet received an e-mail confirming receipt of your application please immediately get in touch with our media team on [email protected].

• Are you a student or young journalist working in print, on-line or broadcast media?
• Have you recently travelled to a developing country? Would you like to visit a developing country and do research for new stories?
• Are you moved by stories of marginalisation, discrimination and inequality of ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities?
• Are you passionate about telling the world about these stories?

If your answer is yes, then we want to hear from you.

Minority Rights Group International will present the Minority Voices Young Journalist Award to one outstanding young journalist wanting to highlight within the European media the issues facing minority and indigenous communities in the global south.

Eligibility

Student journalists or working journalists under the age of 30 are eligible to apply. Television, radio, online and print journalists are invited to compete. In order to be eligible, the young journalists would need to be registered to study at a university in the EU, working for an EU-based media organisation or would need to prove that they had been resident in the EU for a period of one year prior to the closing date.

The brief

Your story should have been written/recorded in the preceding 12 months. It should look at development issues affecting minorities and indigenous peoples in the global south. It could for example be about minority or indigenous communities struggling to access clean drinking water, women discriminated at work or children who are left out of school because of their identity. We are looking for stories on education, gender, poverty, health and the environment.

You can send us entries that have already appeared in the media or those you want to get into the media.

Note: they do not have to be stories that have already been broadcast or published.

The award

As well as a certificate, the winner will be awarded a research trip to visit a minority or indigenous community in the global south and asked to write a piece which will then be featured on MRG’s new Minority Voices Newsroom. MRG media staff in London will also endeavour to secure a professional outlet for the publication of the material, be it print, online or broadcast.

How to enter

All entries should be made via our application form. The deadline for entries is 31 December 2010.
Note that entries can be made in more than one category but only one award will be made covering all of the categories.

• For TV: DVD PAL.
• For radio: CD (MP3 format).
• For print: Originals or copies of articles clearly marked with name and date of publication or a pdf of the article via e mail.
• For new media: Clearly marked printed copies or URLs as appropriate, with accompanying web statistics if possible.
• For images: CD, DVD or JPG via e mail if the image is no larger than 2MB, together with copies or URLs of the publication in which they were printed.

Submission Guidelines

• Print/online submissions should be a minimum of 800 words and a maximum of 2,000 words. TV/radio submissions should be a minimum of 3 minutes and a maximum of 40 minutes in length.
• When sending DVD’s or CD’s, we will require five copies of each entry in order to disseminate amongst the judges. Although the entries can be submitted in any language, they must include English translations for ease of judging.
• If submitting hard copies of written material, please also include 5 copies. All other material should be submitted via e mail.
• If returning the application form as hard copy please submit 5 copies, if not please submit via e mail.
• The application form includes space for a synopsis (no more than 500 words) of the piece as an aid to our judges. The synopsis should provide a brief explanation of the story and say why the piece should be considered for the award. It should also mention briefly if/what impact the story had on the targeted reader or the community it featured and any difficulties the journalist faced in obtaining the story.

Please make sure all entries are clearly marked with your name, their title, and the category they are being entered into. The address to send the materials to is: [email protected].

Judging procedure

• The award will be judged by a panel of professional international journalists, members of minority communities, and a member of MRG’s International Council.
• The judges will consider several factors, including: good journalism, originality of content, depth in which the issues have been looked at, portrayal of the community, understanding of human rights and development issues, and handling of any ethical issues that emerge.
• The decision of the judges will be final.

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The Minority Voices programme has has been made possible by the financial assistance of the European Union. The programme and its contents are the sole responsibility of Minority Rights Group International and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.