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PRESS RELEASE

 Reuters Foundation

Global Award Ceremony to be held in London on 19 November

Reuters-IUCN Media Awards:
Over 1000 articles in the competition

GLAND, Switzerland, 12 November 1999 -- "To choose only one winner from so many good entries is a difficult task", "Generally very high quality", "Good, well written and informative", "Great subject". The eight regional juries of the first world-wide Reuters-IUCN Media Awards for excellence in environmental reporting have expressed enthusiasm for the articles they have scrutinised and selected.

1014 articles have been sent by journalists from dozens of countries in this contest which will culminate in the Global Award Ceremony to be held at Reuters Headquarters, London on 19 November 1999 with the presence of Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, Reuters Editor in chief, the Director of the Reuters Foundation, IUCN's Director General and Chief Scientist.

The Global Media Award winner is currently being selected among eight regional winners by a five-member Master Jury comprising:

The winner of the 1999 Global Award will receive a three month Reuters Foundation fellowship at Green College, Oxford University together with a glass trophy designed by noted stained glass artist Nani Croze from Kenya.

The eight regional award winning articles - from Eastern Africa, Western Africa, South America, North America, South and South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa, West Europe, East Europe - cover issues such as Water and Conflicts, Forests and the Global Warming, Coral Reefs Destruction, Genetically Engineered Food, Germs Attack a Big City, Tradition and Lifestyle of a Local Population Threatened by Polluted Waters.

Providing a sense of the overall quality of the finalists, Master Jury Member Geoffrey Lean comments, "I was particularly struck by the investigative spirit and courage of most of the articles from developing countries..."

Reuters Foundation was set up by Reuters, the global news and information group, in 1982 as an educational trust to promote high standards in journalism through study and training. Over 1700 professional journalists have benefited from Reuters Foundation training programmes. The Foundation also supports a global range of humanitarian causes recommended by Reuters employees around the world.

IUCN - The World Conservation Union was created in 1948. It is the world's largest conservation-related organisation, bringing together 76 states, 111 government agencies, 669 NGOs, 36 affiliates, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 140 countries in a unique world partnership. Over the last half century, IUCN has helped over 50 countries to prepare and implement National Conservation Strategies within the framework of global conventions that it has participated in drafting. Through its world-wide secretariat, comprising offices in 42 countries, IUCN contributes to the implementation of a wide range of activities linking local action with global initiatives.

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