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INTERNATIONAL JURY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA AWARDS

GLAND, Switzerland, 4 August 1999 -- An international jury comprising Queen Noor of Jordan, conservationists and journalists will choose the winner of a new global prize for excellence in environmental reporting, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) announced here.

The first Reuters -IUCN Media Awards for print journalists from around the world will be presented in November this year. The deadline for entries is the end of August.

Reuters Foundation, educational arm of the Reuters news and information group, and the IUCN, the international network of governmental and non governmental organisations and scientists with headquarters at Gland, Switzerland, established the awards to challenge journalists and editors to raise standards in the coverage of environmental issues.

The International Master Jury for the 1999 awards comprises:

"The jury will be looking for high quality environmental reporting based on sound scientific data," Stephen Somerville, Reuters Foundation Director, explained. "We want to encourage lively, responsible journalism that can make a difference, that alerts and informs both the public and the policymakers."

The international jury will select the global prize winner from a pool of nine regional winners. The global winner will be entitled to a three-month Reuters Foundation Fellowship to study at Oxford University. The regional winners will be offered places on Reuters Foundation environmental journalism workshops. The awards cover tuition, travel and accommodation costs.

Reuters Foundation and IUCN are also working together on a programme of environmental journalism workshops and symposiums that bring together experts and the media.

At IUCN’s 50th anniversary celebrations in Fontainebleau, France, last November, Queen Noor praised the Reuters-IUCN partnership and said the initiative should help raise the standards of environmental reporting.

"Journalists and the media have played a critical role in generating and sustaining public interest in the growing environmental threats to our world," she said.

Conservationists need to share their knowledge with the media while journalists have to link environmental stories with mainstream issues that affect people’s lives, Queen Noor added.

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 75 states, 111 government agencies, 668 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 worldwide 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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