by Edwin O. Fernandez and Noel Y. Punzalan
COTABATO CITY, October 10 (PNA) – To further support in bringing peace in southern Philippines, the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines together with its partners launched Friday the 1st European Union Peace Journalism Awards here.
The Awards was launched following the historic signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
“The EU Peace Journalism Awards is a contribution to supporting the peace process and recognition of the role Philippine journalists can play in peace-building,” Ambassador Ledoux said in a statement read for him by his representative Edoardo Manfrendini.
Joining the EU delegation in the EU Peace Journalism Awards launch were Bangsamoro Transition Commission Chair Mohagher Iqbal and a representative of Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.
The Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Mindanao State University–Iligan Institute of Technology, Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism Ateneo de Manila University, The Photojournalists’ Center of the Philippines and philstar.com also partnered with EU.
The EU Peace Journalism Awards is a campaign which will run until May 2015.
The Journalism Awards are open to all Philippine journalists as well as campus journalists based in the country with the following categories: written text published in print media, online and broadcast media, photojournalism, campus journalism and government advocacy peace projects.
Present to share her expertise in covering war and peace in the international arena was Veronica Pedroza of Al Jazeera who used to be with CNN and BBC.
She urged journalists to get out of the box and come up with peace stories that are accurate and balanced.
”Ask is it news? Is it news?” she told journalists in attendance. “Did you tell the story that needed to be told?” she added.
”Have that devotion to be right and balanced in reporting, telling the story,” she advised journalists.
The Grand Winner will go to Brussels next year to meet with peace stakeholders and with fellow journalists while finalists will receive special gifts and certificates.
All the Grand Finalists will also participate in a public forum to be held next year.
Entries will be judged on the basis of the following criteria: relevance to the topic – 30 percent; news value/impact – 30 percent; investigative depth – 25 percent; and professional quality and style – 15 percent.
Entries should adhere to the theme of peace in its broad sense and could include reportage about the peace process at the level of political negotiations.
Journalists may also write about peace linked to development and other cross-cutting socio-political issues or about peace in the perspective of local communities and their unique ways of harnessing peace.
The EU Journalism Awards aim to raise awareness about the impact and value of peace and the peace process in general and to generate information and a deeper understanding of the Bangsamoro peace process in particular.
It also aims to acknowledge the role of Philippine journalists as agents of peaceful social transformation through balanced, responsible, culturally-sensitive and conflict-sensitive reporting on peace and conflict stories; and, generate awareness, interest and appreciation for EU-supported activities in Mindanao in the context of the peace process. (PNA)