Note to Correspondents

AWARDS FOR RADIO PROGRAMMING, PROMOTION TO BE PRESENTED BY DPI ON 27 JUNE

A moving and creative story of an elderly man in Kenya who turns to free primary education to further his life goals has won this year’s United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) gold award .  Produced by World Vision, “Grandpa Goes to School”, underlines the importance of access to universal primary education, a United Nations Millennium Development Goal. 

This year’s panel of judges reviewed a wide range of work dealing with United Nations related topics such as international law, civil war, universal education and environmental protection.  The panel selected four exceptional radio programmes from Canada and the United States to receive the 2005 UNDPI awards, given jointly by UNDPI and New York Festivals, which will be presented by Raymond Sommereyns, Director of the Outreach Division in UNDPI during the Gala Banquet on Monday, 27 June 2005, at the China Club.

The silver UNDPI award will be presented to a news documentary created by the Stanley Foundation which questions and explains the power and importance of international multilateral organizations such as the United Nations through several features on the work of the Organization in “Under Fire:  The United Nations’ Battle For Relevance”.

A second silver UNDPI award will be given to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for a heart-wrenching discussion of civil war and its lasting effects in Sierra Leone through personal histories of individuals who endured the injustices and horrors of the fighting in “The Goalkeepers of Sierra Leone”.

The bronze UNDPI award will go to an environmental programme created by Battery Radio which poetically expresses the importance of biodiversity and environmental protection through an in-depth look at the migration of an endangered species, the Monarch butterfly, in “Travelling Light”.

The UNDPI awards have been awarded annually since 1990 in recognition of exceptional radio programming that best reflects and exemplifies the values, aims and ideals of the United Nations.  The New York Festivals, founded in 1957, oversees six international awards competitions:  Television and Radio Advertising; Design, Print and Outdoor Advertising; Film and Video; Television Programming and Promotions; Radio Programming and Promotions; and Interactive Advertising, and has representation in 62 countries.

For more information, please call 212 963-9480 or visit www.newyorkfestivals.com.

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