Somalilandsun – In partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Guardian are launching the Efua Dorkenoo Pan African Award for Reportage on FGM, which is intended to increase media awareness and engagement on FGM within community, national and regional media outlets and recognise and encourage outstanding efforts of journalists throughout Africa.
The winner of the award will receive one month of training at the FGM Multimedia and Investigations Unit at The Guardian offices in London, with all trip and living costs covered by the organisers. All articles and reports submitted by journalists could be either of investigative or human-interest types, and should be printed or broadcast in Africa. One finalist will be chosen from each of the three categories (print, television, and radio) which will be announced on 6 February 2016, International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, and one overall winner will be chosen from among the three.
This award is in relation to the Guardian’s Global Media Campaign to End FGM (GGMC) which launched in 2014. The aim of the campaign is to provide activists across practicing countries, the tools and information necessary to amplify their advocacy campaigns through increased media reportage on FGM.
This will in turn raise awareness internationally and most importantly amongst local and national media platforms, in the hopes that this will educate people about the long-term implications of FGM, and thus slowly but surely lead to the eradication of the practice altogether.
In four countries over 12 months, GGMC has amplified the grassroots work of campaigners against Female Genital Mutilation in the UK, the US, Kenya and the Gambia, encouraging wider coverage and a higher profile for the work to end FGM in a generation.
Interested journalists should submit their entries to email fgmaward@unfpa.org , the deadline is the 4th of January 2016. for more details visit http://www.theguardian.com/end-fgm
And for a sample video highlighting the work of the Guardian Global Media Campaign to End FGM: watch
