Award for reporting on victims of armed violence

The Press Institute of India and the International Committee of the Red Cross have announced the creation of the PII-ICRC awards for reporting on the fate of victims in situations of armed violence.

The article, or a series of articles on a single theme, should have been published in an Indian national or regional newspaper or magazine in any Indian language (with translation) or English.

Entries may be sent to editor.pii@gmail.com or posted to Editor, Press Institute of India, RIND Premises, Second Main Road, CPT Taramani Campus, Madras – 600 113 on or before August 30. Phone 044-22542344 for further details.

Three cash prizes will be awarded and presented in the last quarter of 2008 in New Delhi.

All expenses paid health journalism seminars

PRESS RELEASE: The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication is calling for applications for its California Health Journalism seminars.

The all-expenses-paid program, held in Los Angeles, offers journalists a chance to step away from the newsroom to hone their skills and gain new perspectives on covering health and health care.

The deadline for applications is June 27.

The fellowships are open to all professional print, broadcast and online journalists with a passion for health news, not just reporters on the health beat. USC welcome applications from mainstream and ethnic media journalists. In intimate workshops, field trips and discussions, fellows will learn from the United States’ most respected health and medical experts, from top journalists in the field and from each other.

During Session 1, from 31 July-3 August 2008, the program will focus on craft, with hands-on workshops on investigating hospitals and nursing homes, understanding medical statistics and medical studies, narrative story telling techniques,and more.

During Session 2, from 23 October-26 October 2008, it will explore the latest thinking about “Healthy Communities” — how neighborhood life, work conditions, social inequities, race and education influence health. Or, as documentary film maker and program speaker Larry Adelman puts it: “why some of us get sicker more often and die sooner.” Session 2 will also offer briefings on online mapping tools and digital story telling.

For more, go www.reportingonhealth.com or click directly on the California Health Journalism link. You can also contact the organisers at (213) 437-4419 or at calendow@usc.edu

Ramnath Goenka Journalism Awards

The Ramnath Goenka Foundation is inviting entries for the third annual Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards. India’s biggest media awards, with 23 categories and over Rs 25 lakh as prize money, has added one more category, Excellence in Civic Journalism, this year.

The awards will be for the following categories:

• Journalist of the Year (Print & TV),
• Reporting from J&K and the Northeast (Print & TV);
• Excellence in Journalism, Hindi (Print & Broadcast);
• Excellence in Journalism, Regional Languages (Print & Broadcast);
• Reporting on Environment (Print & Broadcast);
• Reporting India Invisible (Print & Broadcast);
• Foreign Correspondent Covering India ( Print, Radio or TV);
• Business and Economic Journalism (Print & Broadcast);
• Political Reporting (Print & TV);
• Sports Journalism (Print & TV);
• Film & TV Journalism (Print &TV);
• Books (Non-fiction);
• Reporting on HIV/AIDS (Print, English & Marathi); and Civic Reporting (Print).

The award for HIV/AIDS reporting is instituted in association with USAID, Avert Society and Health Communication Partnership/Johns Hopkins University (HCP/JHU). The two award winners, one each in English and Marathi, will be nominated to attend the three-week Leadership in Strategic Health Communication Workshop at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Centre for Communication Programs in Baltimore, USA, in June 2008.

The new award for civic reporting has been instituted in memory of the former Resident Editor of The Indian Express in Pune, Prakash Kardaley. This award will honour a print journalist whose sustained effort highlights a civic issue and forces the authorities to find a solution to it. Kardaley, who defined pro-active journalism in Pune, was also one of the prime movers behind the Right to Information Act.

The presenting sponsor of the RNG Awards for Excellence in Journalism this year will be S. Kumars Nationwide Limited. The last date for submission of entries is 15 April 2008. Reports published or telecast between 1 April 2006, and 31 December 2007, are eligible to be submitted for this year’s awards.

Wanted: assistant director, researcher

A Bangalore-based documentary filmmaker is looking for an assistant director (AD) and a researcher for two films on issues of democracy and decentralisation to be produced over a period of 6 to 8 months beginning now.

Assistant director: S/he is required to begin work right away on the first film. Work involves travelling within Karnataka. Prior experience is desirable. Knowledge of English and Kannada is essential.

Researcher: A background in economics of political science will be useful. S/he should be able to access material from govt and non-govt sources in and around Bangalore. Good reading and writing skills in English and Kannada
are essential.

Those interested may write to svati22@gmail. com

Canadian fellowship for Commonwealth journos

PRESS RELEASE: The Commonwealth Press Union is now inviting applications for the Gordon Fisher Fellowship which offers one Commonwealth journalist from a developing country the chance to spend an academic year at Massey College, Toronto University, Canada. The deadline for applications is 16 February 2008.

The target delegate is a senior journalist probably aged 35+ and he or she must in full-time employment of a newspaper in membership of the CPU. The Fellowship commences in October 2008 and ends in May 2009.

Visit http://www.cpu.org.uk/fellowsh_gf.html for full details and to read the stories of previous Fellows.

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Commonwealth Press Union, 17 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA

Tel: +44 20 7583 7733, Fax: +44 20 7583 6868

$3,000 award for print and web reporting on TB

A new prize that recognises reporting and commentary in print and on the web about tuberculosis and resistant strains of the disease in developing countries, has been announced at the world conference of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease by being held in Cape Town, South Africa.

The award, courtesy the Stop TB and Lilly MDR partnerships, carries a cash prize of $3,000 (approximately Rs 1.2 lakh). Entires may be subnmitted in English or Hindi (with an English translation). The winners will be announced at the next IUALTD conference in November 2008. Articles must be published between 1 March 2007 and 31 March 2008. The entry deadline is April 30, 2008.

Link via The Hindu

CNN Award for best of Indo-Pak journalism

The American satellite news pioneer, Cable News Network (CNN), has announced two new awards to honour quality journalism in India and Pakistan, commemorating the 60th year of independence of the two nations.

The CNN Journalist Award will honour journalism that reflects the social and political realities of India and Pakistan, while the Photo Journalist Award will recognise story-telling through pictures, New Delhi bureau chief, Phillip Turner said. The new awards will be in addition to the Young Journalist Award, which is currently in its fifth year.

Open to all Indian and Pakistani journalists irrespective of age, nominations are open to print/online and television journalists covering the broader and deeper issues in Indian or Pakistani society.

Entries for the awards should be published or aired between Jan 1 and Sept 30 this year.

MA course in international multimedia journalism

PRESS RELEASE: Britain’s domestic news agency Press Association  (PA) has launched a new Master of Arts course in International Multimedia Journalism in partnership with Newcastle University. The course is targeted at the international market with India being a core area for recruitment. PA already has a foothold in India, and produces content and finished newspaper pages from Mangalore, where it is based.

Visit the site for full details: www.pa-training.co.uk

What one editor looks for in young journalists

# Curiosity

# Scepticism

# Flexibility

# Public service

Read the full article here: Job prerequisites

Link via Journerdism

10 fellowships on offer for development journos

PRESS RELEASE: The National Foundation for India (NFI), an autonomous, professionally managed grantmaking organisation, has announced 10 fellowships to facilitate a more informed development policy dialogue, and to encourage publication of well researched articles on development issues.

Eight fellowships are in the print media category and two in the photojournalist category. The fellowships amount to Rs 1 lakh each.

The themes for the fellowship include a wide range of issues of importance to ordinary Indians, their battle for a better life and development related issues including community health, elementary education, livelihood security, local governance, peace and justice, and gender equity.

NFI’s mission is to help create a just and equitable society by enabling marginalised communities to improve the quality of their own lives, and by improving public understanding. NFI’s thematic programme areas are community health, elementary ducation, livelihood security, local governance, peace and justice, citizens and society, and development journalism.

The last date for receipt of applications is August 30 2007. The details of the fellowship programme can be obtained from:

Sentimongla Kechüchar,
Programme Officer,
National Foundation for India
Core 4A, Upper Ground Floor
India Habitat Centre
Lodi Road
New Delhi-110 003

Telephone: 011-24641864/8465/8490/8491/8492,
Fax: 011-24641867
email: sentimong[at]nfi.org.in / info[a]nfi.org.in

The application guidelines can be downloaded from the NFI website: http://www.nfi.org.in/