Chronicle
2009 World Press Freedom Prize
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is now accepting nominees for the 2009 Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. Deadline is on Jan. 15, 2009.
Created in 1997 on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (May 3), the annual award honors the outstanding contribution of a person, organization, or institution in defending and promoting press freedom anywhere in the world, and especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger. The winner will receive US$25,000 (approximately P1.2 million) in a ceremony during the World Press Freedom Day conference next year in Qatar.
The award, sponsored by the Cano and Nicholas B. Ottaway foundations and JP/Politiken Newspapers LTD, is named after Colombian journalist Gui-llermo Cano Isaza. Isaza was assassinated in December 1986 in Bogotá in front of the offices of his newspaper El Espectador by gunmen linked to Colombia’s drug cartel.
For more information, visit the UNESCO website.
World Press Photo contest
Filipino professional press photographers or their respective organizations may submit their best news-related photos to the annual World Press Photo Contest. The photographs must have been taken in 2008 and was intended for publication. Deadline is on Jan. 15, 2009.
The contest has 10 sub-categories each for the single images and story portfolio categories: spot news, general news, contemporary issues, daily life, portraits, people in the news, sports action, arts and entertainment, nature, and sports features.
The best single image and picture story in each category will receive a cash prize of 1,500 euros (around P94,000), while the second and third prize recipients will receive a diploma. All winners will receive a Golden Eye award.
The main overall prize is the World Press Photo of the Year. Its recipient will receive 10,000 euros (about P629,000) and a professional digital camera.
For more information about the World Press Photo contest and its rules, visit their website.
Thomson Reuters Fellowships
Established Filipino print and broadcast journalists may apply for fellowships with the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in the University of Oxford in England. Applicants must have a minimum of five years experience.
The fellowships allow around 25 to 30 journalists worldwide to do in-depth research away from their daily deadlines. Priority is given to applicants with research proposals that fit within the Institute’ areas of focus like politics and journalism, the economics of journalism, and the future of journalism.
Past Filipino fellows include Yasmin Lee Arpon, Asia News Network deputy editor (AY 2003-2004); Yasmin Arquiza, Bandillo ng Palawan editor (AY 2004-2005); and Alexandra Seno, freelance Asia reporter for Newsweek (AY 2006-2007).
Although successful applicants are fully funded, the arrangement is subject to variations. Deadline for applications is on Jan. 28, 2009. For more application details on the fellowship, visit the Institute’s website.
Newsbreak and PCIJ honored
Newsbreak and Philippine Center for Investigative for Journalism (PCIJ) articles won prizes in separate international competitions last November.
Newsbreak senior writer Aries Rufo won the Lorenzo Natali Journalism Prize last Nov. 17 for his Jan. 4, 2008 article “A Cry for Justice: 44 Judges Killed in Recent Years”. He is the first Filipino to receive a Natali Prize.
PCIJ multimedia director Alexander “Alecks” Pabico won the top prize in the Governance category of the 2008 Developing Asia Journalism Awards (DAJA) last Nov. 14 in Tokyo, Japan. PCIJ fellow Roel Landingin, on the other hand, was runner-up in the Infrastructure category.
Rufo received 5,000 euros (approximately P318,000) and a trophy for winning first prize in the Asia-Pacific region.
Established in 1992, the Lorenzo Natali award recognizes journalists for outstanding reporting on human rights, democracy and development. It is awarded in each of five world regions: Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Carribean, and the Maghreb and Middle East. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the World Association of Newspapers are partners of the European Commission, the awarding body.
The competition, originally reserved to the print and online press, was opened this year to radio and television journalists.
Organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADB) in 2004, DAJA honors individual journalists from ADB developing member countries for excellent reporting on development trends and issues in Asia. The four theme categories were governance, infrastructure, environment, and regional integration. Filipino journalists were also feted as honorable mention and runner-ups in past DAJA awards.
Pabico won for his April 29, 2007 report “People Power Thrives in Naga City” while Landingin was cited for his February 12, 2008 story “Bids Sans Caps, Tied Loans Favor Foreign Contractors”.
Pabico’s report discusses how the leadership of Naga City mayor Jesse Robredo, a 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient for Government Service, developed strong participation of citizens to institute reforms. PCIJ said the article was part of its i Report series on local “faces of change” in connection with its 2007 elections coverage.
Landingin’s article, on the other hand, was on problems in the bidding process of lending money to fund government infrastructure projects like road constructions. It was second in a three-part series produced after PCIJ’s six-month review of official documents covering official development assistance (ODA)-funded projects funded by the Philippines biggest ODA lenders.
The finalists were chosen from close to 250 published and unpublished works between January 1, 2007 and August 22, 2008. PCIJ finalists included Malou Mangahas, executive director, for the report “When Politics Pollute Civil Service: New CSC Chief Faces Pack of Ineligible Bureaucrats” co-written with PCIJ fellow and former writer-researcher Isa Lorenzo (governance); and writing fellow Marlon Alexander Luistro for “Illegal Fish Cage Operations Poison Taal Lake” (environment).
Special prizes like the 2008 Young Development Journalist and the Development Journalist of the Year awards were also handed to Mallika Aryal of Nepal and Meghana Dhoke of India, respectively.
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