African Information Society Initiative (AISI) Media Awards
Deadline Date
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is inviting individual journalists and media institutions based in Africa to participate in the 2006 African Information Society Initiative (AISI) Media Awards. The awards aim to encourage informed coverage of the information society and information and communication technology (ICT) for development issues in Africa as part of ECA's Information Society Outreach and Communication Programme. They are aimed at individual journalists and media institutions based in Africa that are “promoting journalism which contributes to a better understanding of the information society in Africa."
The aims of the awards are to:
- Create greater awareness on the role of ICTs in the development process within the framework of the African Information Society Initiative;
- Support African media to specialise and master ICTs and development issues thereby sharpening their skills and knowledge base;
- Enhance access to information on this subject area by various African stakeholders, thereby raising greater awareness;
- Stimulate national debates on key issues and emerging trends.
All entries must have been published and broadcasted by an African Media institution during the year 2005/2006.
The winning entries will be disseminated internationally and honoured at the 2006 Highway Africa Conference, which will take place in September 2006 in Grahamstown, South Africa.
The categories are:
The AISI/GTZ Media Awards 2006
This Award has four sub-categories:
- Radio: Programmes from commercial and national public radio stations, including news, discussion, documentaries and features.
- Print: Articles from regional or national newspapers, including specialist magazines.
- Television/Video: Factual (documentary and features) and news.
- Community Media: This category will examine nominations from local community media (newspapers and community radio) that demonstrate innovative use and appropriation of ICT applications.
AISI/IDRC Media Awards 2005
This Award has two sub-categories:
- IDRC/AISI Reporting ICT Research and Innovation. This award is geared towards encouraging media practitioners' focus on issues related to ICT research and innovations in Africa under the framework of the International Development Research Centre's (IDRC) Acacia Programme. Research into the impact of ICTs on African communities and information on ICT innovations, such as WAP applications, the Simputer, or open source applications that, according to the organisers, could have far reaching consequences for the development of marginalised people. This award will therefore seek to encourage the dissemination of this type of information through the media, by acknowledging the best media report on ICT research and/or innovations and their relationship to the development of the African continent and its people.
- IDRC/AISI Reporting on ICT Policy. This award is to encourage increased reporting on ICT policies (process and implementation) in Africa under the frameworks of the International Development Research Centre’s Acacia Programme and ECA’s Africa Information Society Initiative. The objective is to stimulate interest in the formulation and implementation of national e-strategies in countries on the continent and to support informed reporting by the media.
Entries will be considered for print (articles), radio and television programmes.
AISI/IICD Media Awards 2005
This Award has two sub-categories:
- IICD/AISI Award on Local Content Applications. This award aims to recognise users of innovative or pioneering applications of ICTs to local content defined as ''the expression of the locally owned and adapted knowledge of a community" in Africa. Applications can be from any sector and use of any medium with a demonstrated link with ICTs that provide opportunities for local people to interact and communicate with each other, expressing their own ideas, knowledge and culture in their own languages.
- IICD/AISI Media Award on Local Content. This second IICD award will recognise an outstanding story, campaign, or project in which the significance of local knowledge and content is raised in local, national, or regional fora.
Entries will be considered for magazines, websites, radio and television programmes.
AISI/OSIWA Media Awards 2005
This Award has two sub-categories:
- OSIWA/AISI Best Female Reporter on ICT4D Issues. This category recognises female journalists on the continent and their interest and reporting of ICT for development issues. The overall objective of this award is to encourage women journalists to enter into reporting on specialised fields such as information and communication technologies.
- OSIWA/AISI Reporting on ICTs and Rural Communities. This award is to support and stimulate interest in the media to report on how ICTs can be used in rural areas in Africa. OSIWA is assisting communities to gain access to independent information and uncensored media, and promoting diversity in media ownership as a tool for increasing their participation in public life. Under the ECA AISI framework, this award is aimed at encouraging the media to report on strategies for democratising access to the Information Society.
Entries will be considered for print (articles), radio and television programmes.
Click here for more information about the awards and the application process.
Contact
Mr. Afework Temtime
Economic Commission for Africa
AISA Media Award
DISD, 5th Floor, ECA Building
ECA, PO Box 3001, Menelik II Avenue
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
atemtime@uneca.org
Aida Opoku-Mensah
aopoku-mensah@uneca.org
