The Earth Journalism Awards, organised by the media assistance organisation Internews, honour those in the media - professional journalists and citizen journalists/bloggers - who use their communication skills and influence to promote awareness of and provide new insight on climate change issues - whether it be in their region or in relation to certain key themes - through the production of news and current affairs reports. Winners will have the opportunity to cover the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 7-18 2009, where they will cover these negotiations and be honoured at an awards ceremony.

Fourteen award categories are open in this competition. Seven regional awards will be presented, along with seven thematic awards. In addition, the winning stories will be posted on the internet so that the public may vote on the best story, which will then be deemed the winner of a special Global Public Award.

• Seven regional awards on current affairs and news reporting on climate change: Eurasia, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, and Europe and Australia.

• Six thematic awards: the Negotiations Award, the Human Voices Award, the Energy Award, the Forests Award, the Climate Change and Nature Award, and the Climate Change Adaptation Award. A 7th thematic award, the MTV Positive Change Award, will be open for entry by youth between ages 18 and 28 beginning June 22 2009.

• The 15th category, Global Public Award, will be
  chosen by members of the global public, who will be invited to vote online for the best story drawn from the winning regional and thematic awards through a social networking campaign. On November 9 2009, the public vote for this award will launch simultaneously on the Earth Journalism website, Twitter, and Facebook. It will allow members of the public to choose the Global Public Award winner from amongst the 14 winning pieces that will be presented in Copenhagen.

EJN is a project of Internews, established to empower and enable journalists in the Global South to improve their environmental coverage. This award has been established to improve coverage of COP15.

Click here for more information and for details on each award category.

Press release from the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) on June 5 2009; and email from Morgan Williams to The Communication Initiative on August 7 2009.