NEWS RELEASE
2000 Reuters-IUCN Media Awards ceremony
Her Majesty Queen Noor to announce global and regional award winners
Prizes to honour best of environmental reporting
Amman, Jordan, 8 October, 2000 (IUCN) - On Monday, October 9 2000, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, Patron of the IUCN - The World Conservation Union - will present awards to the winners of the 2000 IUCN-Reuters Media Awards. Nine journalists will be honoured for excellence in professional reporting on environmental and sustainable development issues, in a ceremony at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, currently being held in Amman, Jordan.
The Reuters-IUCN Media Awards were inaugurated in November 1998 at the 50th Anniversary of IUCN, in Fontainebleau, with two special prizes presented by Her Majesty Queen Noor. Since then, in 1999 and 2000, annual awards have been offered for excellence in professional reporting on environmental and sustainable development issues. In 1999, over 1,000 entries were received from 42 countries, leading to nine regional awards as well as a global award for an article addressing genetically modified food.
In 2000, the competition was extended to include electronic media (broadcast and internet) as well as print journalism. Entries from 64 countries participated in this unique global contest leading to a selection of nine regional winners:
- Boris Zhukoy of Itogi Magazine, Russia (Eastern Europe);
- Souleymane Ouattara of Quotidien du Soir, Burkina Faso (French-speaking Africa);
- Ibaba Don Pedro of ,The Guardian, Nigeria (English-speaking Africa);
- Yasir Mahgoub Mohammed El Hussein of Al Sharq, Qatar (the Middle East and Northern Africa);
- Alanna Mitchell of The Toronto Globe and Mail, Canada (North America and Oceania);
- Oscar Ugarte and Paolo Galarza of Total Quality, Bolivia (South America);
- Johanna Romberg of Geo Magazine, Germany (Western and Central Europe); and
- Morena Lidia Azucena Mayorga of La Prensa Grafica, El Salvador (Meso America.)
- Lu Hong Jian of Yang Jun, China (South and Southeast Asia);
The regional winners' articles were considered by a Master Jury, comprised of Her Majesty Queen Noor; IUCN's Director General Maritta Koch-Weser; His Excellency Kader Asmal, Minister of Education of South Africa; and Geert Linnebank, Editor-In-Chief of Reuters. The Master Jury selected one article as the global winner, who will receive an award and recognition, as well as a three-month fellowship at Oxford University.
Her Majesty Queen Noor said: "In today's world of rapid communication technology, where global media reaches almost all sectors of society, it is now possible to generate and sustain public interest in the growing environmental threats to our planet, and to directly influence the decisions and actions of individuals in response to these threats. It is imperative that professional environmental reporting links environmental challenges to mainstream socio-political and economic affairs, thereby bringing issues to the forefront of sustainable development priorities."
On October 9 at 5 p.m., in a ceremony hosted by IUCN's Director General, Maritta Koch-Weser and Reuters Foundation Director Maureen Marlowe, the nine regional winners will gather to receive their awards, and to learn which among them is the global winner.
For further information, please contact: Josué Anselmo, The World Conservation Union - IUCN. Tel (++41 22) 999 0 207. E-mail: joa@hq.iucn.org
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