Amnesty International UK Media Awards

The Amnesty International Media Awards are a prestigious set of awards which recognise excellence in human rights journalism. Awarded annually since 1992 by the UK section of Amnesty International, the awards reward human rights journalists who have made a significant contribution to the UK public's greater awareness and understanding of human rights issues.

The Awards fall into several categories, most of which are selected by an independent panel of judges. Judges are selected from the media, the arts and entertainment industries, the NGO sector, academia and the legal profession. Senior members of staff at Amnesty International also take part in the judging process for the categories listed but have no casting vote or additional influence over the choice of winners.

The Awards ceremony is held annually at a Central London location. The most recent ceremony was held on 4 July 2007 at the Cafe Royal on Regent Street and was hosted by former BBC reporter Kate Adie.

The ceremony received significant media attention due to the release, early that morning, of captured BBC journalist Alan Johnston who won the Radio Award. Johnston's parents attended the ceremony on his behalf and his award was collected by his father Graham Johnston.

Entry criteria

Each year submissions are invited which focus on the areas of human rights work covered by Amnesty's purpose, which is as follows:

We are a movement of ordinary people standing up for humanity and human rights across the world. Our purpose is to protect individuals wherever justice, fairness, truth and freedom are denied. [http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10059]

Entries must have been originally published or broadcast in the year preceding the closing deadline, this year on 30 March 2007. Entrants pay an entry fee to help Amnesty cover the cost of running the Awards. The full criteria are detailed on the entry form which is sent out annually around four months before the ceremony and is available in the Media Awards section of the Amnesty International UK website. [http://www.amnesty.org.uk/awards]

Categories

Categories open for entries are:
*International TV and radio (new in 2008)
*New Media (new in 2008)
*Television documentary and docudrama
*Television news
*Radio
*National newspapers
*Periodicals - including weekend national print magazines and supplements
*Photojournalism
*Nations and Regions Award - print or broadcast media in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the English regions
*Gaby Rado Memorial Award - this award was established with the help of the family, friends and colleagues of the journalist Gaby Rado, who died in Iraq in 2003. It recognises a journalist who has been covering national or international human rights stories in broadcast or print media for less than five years.

The final award, the "Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat", is selected by Amnesty International UK and awarded to a journalist or journalists at particular risk because of a commitment to covering human rights issues in their own country.

The ceremony

The ceremony is held annually in Central London. It is attended by around 400 guests, including various prominent figures in the UK media industry, politicians and celebrities. The host, usually a high profile member of the UK media, presents the ceremony and the various awards are presented by representatives from each of the judging panels. Previous hosts have included singer and political activist Bob Geldof and popular English broadcaster Moira Stuart.

The format of the Awards ceremony evening typically includes a pre-ceremony drinks reception, followed by the ceremony proper and post-ceremony drinks.

Previous winners

Purpose of the awards

Amnesty International believe that in recognising excellence in human rights journalism Amnesty they encourage journalists and commissioners to increase the quality and quantity of their human rights coverage. The event generates mutually beneficial publicity both for shortlisted entrants and for Amnesty International. It also allows journalists and Amnesty's Media team to network, facilitating better links between the UK media community and human rights campaigners.

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News Interantional Editor, comments that

‘Amnesty Awards are really important. Because sometimes it’s very hard: you go in to see your editor and you say “something’s happening in such and such a country”; and it’s obscure, and it’s far away, and it’s expensive, and it’s difficult to get to, and there’s a much more interesting and immediate story somewhere else. And then maybe you point out that you won an Amnesty Award for a similar story a couple of years ago, and it makes them think: and it makes them think that they get some sort of kudos from this, and that it matters within the industry. So I think it’s tremendously important and I think Amnesty is doing a tremendous job by giving us these awards so that we can use them to say, "Yes, we’ve got to carry on reporting human rights, it really matters."

[http://www.amnesty.org.uk/videos.asp?id=113]

External links

* [http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10058 Amnesty Media Awards section of Amnesty International UK Section website]
* [http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10061 Previous winners list]
* [http://www.amnesty.org.uk/videos.asp?id=113 Amnesty Media Awards 2006 video]