CAIRO May 10, 2006 – The United Nation's Children's Fund, UNICEF, and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood have announced two new awards aimed at raising standards in media reporting in Egypt on issues relating to children and their rights.
The awards – to be made annually – are aimed at young Egyptian print journalists, and at producers of radio and television shows that allow children or adolescents to be part of the programming process.
A joint NCCM/UNICEF statement issued today says the awards will recognise work which raises awareness and understanding on several sensitive issues, notably, child labour, HIV/AIDS, and tolerance.
"While there is much good journalism on children issues, we want to see standards raised higher," said Ambassador Moushira Khattab, Secretary General of NCCM. "High-quality coverage in the media will go a long way to ensuring deeper respect for children's rights in Egyptian society as a whole."
UNICEF Egypt Representative Dr Erma Manoncourt said the awards were consistent with UNICEF's efforts globally to push children and their concerns higher up national agendas.
"We see the media as vital allies in this regard," said Dr Manoncourt. "Creative and innovative work by journalists and broadcast producers opens peoples eyes to the problems that children and adolescents face. It also can provide a platform to highlight the contribution youngsters make to their communities and to society in general."
Submissions for the NCCM/UNICEF Child Rights Award for Young Journalists, and for the NCCM/UNICEF Award for Children’s Broadcasting must be made before the deadline of October 31. Entries will be considered first by an internal panel from NCCM and UNICEF, before being sent to a panel of judges to select a shortlist and winning entries.
The winners of the award will participate in the 5th World Summit on Media for Children to be held in South Africa in March 2007.
For further information go to: www.unicef/egypt.org
Or contact :
• UNICEF Tel: 526-5083 thru 87 Ext 208 cairo@unicef.org
• NCCM Think Twice Campaign Tel: 528-1905 nccmthinktwice@yahoo.com