‘Vision Pasifika: Climate Change’ Media Award

Winners Of ‘Vision Pasifika: Climate Change’ Media Award

www.sprep.org

APIA (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme /Pacific Media Watch): Three Pacific journalists have been commended by SPREP, having won awards in the first “Vision Pasifika: Climate Change” Media tribute to recognise the role of Pacific reporters in raising awareness in environment issues.

The award is part of the media outreach by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) that encourages partnerships with Pacific media to help strengthen their role in raising awareness in sustainable environment concerns.

Anish Chand has won the television category for his news story “Pacific Politics and Climate Change” which was broadcast on Fiji One’s Close Up. He has also won the best overall category.

Moffat Mamu has won the print category for his news story “Our Final Chance”, printed in the Solomon Star News.

Rachna Lal and Kalpana Prasad have won the student category for their story “Coral reef destruction continues unabated” published in Wansolwara, produced by students of the University of the South Pacific Journalism Division.

No entries were submitted for the radio award.

All three winners are graduates of the USP Journalism.

“I think all the entries were good in their own rights but since it was a competition, we needed to pick the best entries,” said Espen Ronneberg, SPREP’s Climate Change Adviser.

“Congratulations to the winners and also a huge commendation to those who submitted entries.”

More than 30 news items were entered in the competition for judging before a panel which consisted of a member from the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and PACNEWS, WWF South Pacific Programme Office and SPREP.

The “Vision Pasifika: Climate Change” Media Award was a partnership between SPREP and WWF, supported by PINA and PACNEWS.

“We’re really pleased with both the calibre of submissions, as well as the amount of entries we received,” said Nanette Woonton, SPREP’s Associate Media and Publications Officer.

“SPREP would like to encourage members of our Pacific media to continue writing environment news reports. We plan to ensure this award is a continuous one focusing on the different environment aspects, as we’d like to be able to pay tribute to our media that produce excellent work.”

Winning entries receive US$500 each, including US$500 for the best overall category. While this is the first award, it is hoped that future awards will promote Pacific media to cover more environment stories in their countries.

“I would encourage the reporters to learn more about climate change try and apply their knowledge to their local situations and try and come up with some innovative stories to really demonstrate how climate change is impacting on their communities,” said Ronneberg.

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