Amnesty International UK Media Awards
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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.
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[edit] 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.[1]
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.[2]
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Previous winners
[edit] 2007
- Gaby Rado memorial award for a journalist at the start of their career: Ghaith Abdul Ahad, The Guardian
- Special award for human rights journalist under threat: Dina Meza, Honduras
- National newspaper: 'Congo's tragedy', Johann Hari, The Independent
- Periodical: 'The big steal', Jonathan Watts, The Guardian Weekend Magazine
- Photojournalism: 'Acid Attacks in Bangladesh', Andrew Testa, Ei8ht Magazine & Panos
- Radio: 'Despatches from Gaza', Radio 4 - Alan Johnston & BBC Gaza Bureau
- Nations and regions: Haunted, Lucy Adams, The Herald Magazine
- Television documentary: Execution of a Teenage Girl, BBC & Wild Pictures, Monica Garnsey, Paul Hamann, Arash Sahami
- Television news: China organ transplants, BBC News, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, Al Go, Bessie Du
[edit] 2006
- Gaby Rado memorial award for a journalist at the start of their career: 'Human rights in the Former Soviet Union', Nick Paton Walsh, The Guardian
- Special award for human rights journalist under threat: Stanislav Dmitrievskiy and Oksana Chelysheva, Russia
- National newspaper: 'Iraq special report', Peter Beaumont, The Observer
- Periodical: 'Beasts of prey', Christine Toomey, The Sunday Times Magazine
- Photo journalism: 'Rwanda - facing the virus', Stuart Freedman, Positive lives Panos
- Radio: 'Reports from rural China', BBC Radio 4 - Rupert Wingfield Hayes and Alistair Burnett
- Regional media: 'Tales from the edge, the Glasgow girls', BBC Scotland, Lindsey Hill, Simon Parsons, Rhiannon Brady and Emma Green McInnes
[edit] 2005
- Television documentary: Asylum, BBC - Amanda Richardson, Peter Gordon, Edwina Vardey and Nicola Clemens
- Television news: 'Conflict - tin: Congo's tin soldiers', Channel 4 News - ITN: Elizabeth C Jones, Jonathan Miller and Mike Radford
- Gaby Rado award for human rights journalism: Ali A Fadhil, Channel 4 Independents' Fund and Guardian Films
- Special award for human rights journalist under threat: Marielos Monzón, Guatemala
- National newspaper: 'London - the world in one city', Leo Benedictus, The Guardian
- Periodical: 'America's Gulag', Stephen Grey, New Statesman
- Photo journalism: 'Flames of Desperation', Nicola Kurtz, Sunday Times Magazine
- Radio: Bhopal, BBC Radio 4, Susan Roberts - Director & Producer
- Regional media: 'Fascism in Russia', Billy Briggs, The Herald Magazine on Saturday, Scotland
[edit] 2004
- Television documentary: Panorama - The New Killing Fields, BBC, Darren Kemp - Producer, Hilary Andersson - Reporter
- Television news: Falluja Forensics Broadcast Company - Channel 4 News Independents' Production Company - Guardian Films Tara Sutton - Director
- Gaby Rado award for human rights journalism: James Astill for reports from Democratic Republic of Congo for The Guardian, The Observer and Newsnight
- Global award for human rights journalism: 'Slaves of the 21st Century', Raphael Gomide, O Dia Newspaper, Brazil
- Special award for human rights journalism under threat: Kifle Mulat, Editor-in-chief of Lissane Hizeb (Voice of the People)
- National newspaper: 'The People The Law Forgot', James Meek, The Guardian
- Periodical: 'The Bitterest Betrayal', Vikram Dodd and Tania Branigan, Guardian Weekend Magazine
- Photojournalism: 'Ghosts of the Apocalypse', Philip Blenkinsop, Sunday Times Magazine
- Radio: Crossing Continents - India, Lucy Ash, BBC Radio 4
- Regional media: 'Asylum Seeking Children', Lorna Martin, The Herald, Scotland
[edit] 2003
- Television documentary: This World - Access To Evil, Olenka Frenkiel, BBC
- Television news: Equatorial Guinea, Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News
- Global Award for Human Rights Journalism: 'Invisible casualties of war', Belma Becirbasic and Dzenana Secic of Start magazine, Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Special award for human rights journalism under threat: Hassan Bility, editor of the Analyst newspaper in Liberia
- National newspapers: 'Inside the world of the Palestinian suicide bomber'; 'The informer who could not escape'; 'On patrol with the killer Israel dreads', Hala Jaber, Sunday Times
- Periodicals: 'Land of the damned', Ann McFerran, Sunday Times Magazine
- Photojournalism: 'Looking Aids in the face', Gideon Mendel, Corbis, Guardian Weekend
- Radio: Sale of illegal landmines, Andrew Gilligan for Today, BBC Radio 4
- Regional media: Series of articles on refugees and asylum seekers, Alexander Robertson, Sam Bartlett and Liam McDougall for The Big Issue in Scotland
[edit] 2002
- Televisions documentaries: Panorama - A licence to murder, John Ware for BBC
- Television news: Guinea: sex for food, Sorious Samura, Insight News Television/Channel 4 News/CNN
- National newspaper: '10-year-old Qwadrat takes his final painful breath', Anton Antonowicz, Daily Mirror
- Periodical: 'The school of assassins that the US army has tried to hide', Christine Toomey, The Sunday Times Magazine
- Photojournalism: 'War crimes in Kosovo', Gary Knight, Newsweek International
- Radio: Crossing Continents - Israel/Palestine, Lucy Ash for BBC Radio 4
- Television documentary: Kids behind bars, True Vision Productions for the BBC (produced by Kate Blewett and Brian Woods)
- Television news: Slobodan Milosevic War Crimes Trial, Gaby Rado for ITN - Channel 4 News
[edit] 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."
