EU, partners launch 1st EU peace journalism awards

COTABATO CITY – To support further mounting efforts in bringing
peace in southern Philippines, the Delegation of the European Union to
the Philippines, together with its partners, launched today the 1st
European Union Peace Journalism Awards here. EU had
been actively participating in the peace process in various ways,
including poverty reduction,and thelatest of which is this journalism
awards.The Awards was launched following the historic signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro. The
EU Peace Journalism Awards is a contribution to supporting the peace
process and recognition of the role Philippine journalists can play in
peace-building, Ambassador Guy Ledoux said in a statement read for him
by his representative Edoardo Manfrendini. Today is a time
ofgreat promise but also a time when the new governance structure is
not yet in place. This is a time which should be used to explain to all
the stakeholders the benefit of this agreement for the people of
Mindanao and the people of the Philippines, Ledoux said. This
is a time when the role of the media is even more important that at
other times. Media and journalism can be of great assistance in conflict
management and peace building, Ledoux added.Sec. Teresita Deles, President Aquino's peace adviser, urged journalists to be agents of social transformation. Let
the EU peace journalism awards serve as your motivation to shift from
the paradigm of conflict reporting towards a framework for communicating
peace where you serve as agents of social transformation, ensuring
balanced, responsible, culturally sensitive, and conflict sensitive
reporting, OPAPP Sec. Teresita Deles said in a statement read for her
by Director Marlon Dedumo of OPAPP-Cotabato City.Joining the EU
Delegation in the EU Peace Journalism Awards launching were Bangsamoro
Transition Commission chair and Moro Islamic Liberation Front chief
negotiator Mohagher Iqbal and the Office of Presidential Adviser on the
Peace Process whose organizations are collaborators for the Awards. Revolutionize
the idea of peace reporting,” Iqbal advised local and national
journalists. Do not limit to just one dimension…do it like any story
telling but you must include history so that the wrong of the past won’t
be repeated,” he added. The Centre for
Humanitarian Dialogue, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines,
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Mindanao State University–Iligan
Institute of Technology, Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism
Ateneo de Manila University, The Photojournalists' Center of the
Philippines and philstar.com also partnered with EU. The EU Peace Journalism Awards is a campaign which will run until May 2015. The
Journalism Awards are open to all Philippine journalists as well as
campus journalists based in the country with the following categoriesand
written text published in print media, online and broadcast media,
photojournalism, campus journalism and government advocacy peace
projects. Present to share her expertise in
covering war and peace in the international arena was Veronica Pedroza
of Al Jazeera who used to be with CNN and BBC. She urged journalists to get out of the box” and come up with peace stories that are accurate and balance.
”Ask is it news? Is it news?” she told journalists in attendance. Did
you tell the story that needed to be told?” she also said, adding, if
not then it’s not worth writing. Have that devotion to be right and balance in reporting peace, telling the story for peace,” she advised journalists. The
Grand Winner goes to Brussels next year to meet with peace stakeholders
and with fellow journalists while Finalists will receive special gifts
and certificates. All the Grand Finalists will also participate in a public forum to be held next year. Entries
will be judged on the basis of the following criteriaand relevance to the
topic – 30 percent news value/impact – 30 percent investigative depth
– 25 percent and professional quality and style – 15 percent. Entries
should adhere to the theme of peace in its broad sense and could
include reportage about the peace process at the level of political
negotiations.Journalists may also write about peace linked
to development and other cross-cutting socio-political issues or about
peace in the perspective of local communities and their unique ways of
harnessing peace. The EU Journalism Awards aim to
raise awareness about the impact and value of peace and the peace
process in general and to generate information and a deeper
understanding of the Bangsamoro peace process in particular. It
also aims to acknowledge the role of Philippine journalists as agents
of peaceful social transformation through balanced, responsible,
culturally-sensitive and conflict-sensitive reporting on peace and
conflict stories and, generate awareness, interest and appreciation for
EU-supported activities in Mindanao in the context of the peace
process.