Internews, an international NGO working to empower local media globally, has announced the 15 winners of the Earth Journalism Awards this week. They have also opened up voting to the public online, in order to find a 16th winner. The winners will travel to Copenhagen next month in order to cover the highly anticipated and environmentally critical COP15 conference.
Around 900 journalists, bloggers and writers, from over 140 countries, registered and sent in their best climate change reports from 2009. James Fahn, Global Director of Internew's Environmental Program said of the competition:
"The Earth Journalism Awards were established to boost climate change coverage in this critical year leading up to Copenhagen, and to highlight the efforts of journalists reporting on this challenging subject around the world."
He also commented that they were "overwhelmed" by the response to the competition and by the caliber of the writing. Some of the winning stories included a piece on a coastal community in Pakistan and its response to the multiple challenges of climate change; a multi-media investigation on the use and effects of fire in the Amazon, as well as a report on how Kenyan companies are missing out on the growing global carbon credits
market.
Stories were selected by an independent jury, with members from a range of countries, all of whom are considered to be media and climate change experts.
Categories included: regional awards covering current affairs and news reporting on climate change and thematic awards, such as The Climate Change and Nature Award, the Negotiations Award and the Climate Diplomacy Prize , The Human Voices Award, The Energy Award, The Forests Award, The Climate Change Adaptation Award and the MTV Positive Change Award.
"As a member of the Earth Journalism Awards' international jury, it is a pleasure to see the depth of coverage from around the world for this important subject," says Nadia El Awady, President of the World Federation of Science Journalists.
"We need to support these journalists however we can in their efforts to inform the public and policy-makers, and this awards program is a wonderful way to give them both practical support and more recognition."
As well as attending the conference in Copenhagen, winners will also attend a high profile awards ceremony, co-hosted by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri.
The winning stories are now available online and the public still has the opportunity to place a vote to decide the overall winning story. The website also offers an insight into the aims of the competition as well as listing the finalists.
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