Note to Correspondents

AWARDS FOR RADIO PROGRAMMING TO BE PRESENTED BY UNITED NATIONS

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION ON 12 OCTOBER

 

A moving investigative report of desperately poor parents who, having no means to provide for their children, sell them into slavery in Ghana has won this year’s United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) gold award for best radio programme promoting an issue of concern to the United Nations.  Produced by World Vision, Ghana Child Slavery sheds light on the lives of these child slaves, whose accounts provide graphic details of the inhumane conditions in which they are forced to work long hours -- 7 days a week, every week -- exposed to disease, beatings and even death if they are unable to work at the pace required by their “masters”.

The report also sheds a compassionate light on the parents, most of whom live in the Lake Volta region of Ghana, who, pained by having sold their children for paltry sums of money, acknowledge that it has brought great remorse added to the unrelenting despair of extreme poverty.  The eradication of extreme poverty and starvation is one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The silver UNDPI award will be presented to “A World of Possibilities” for its current affairs documentary entitled The Unseen World of Islam.  The two-part series explores the question of a clash of civilizations between the West and the world of Islam, recounting the origins of the Muslim faith and its relationship with the West.  Produced for a United States audience, the report tackles the difficult topic of the struggle for supremacy between two prominent civilizations, highlighting rich possibilities for cultural collaboration if only “the divisive extremists can be sidelined by moderate majorities”.   The documentary reminds the audience of positive possibilities in the dialogue among civilizations, a subject of concern to the United Nations General Assembly, which commemorated the International Year for Dialogue among Civilizations in 2001.

The bronze UNDPI award for radio programming will be given to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for its current affairs report Youth in the Middle East Tell Their Stories of Conflict… and Hopes for Peace.  The report consists of interviews carried out during the initial days of the Israel-Hizbollah conflict in Lebanon in August 2006.  Youths of diverse backgrounds offer their distinct perspectives on the ways the conflict and its aftermath were likely to affect them individually and impact their hopes and dreams.  An expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was deployed after Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered a ceasefire in September.

An additional honour went to Justice Talking in Washington, D.C., which received a finalist mention for their work on …The U.S. Battle with the International Criminal Court.  The documentary analyses the United States positions both in negotiating significant changes in the statute of the International Criminal Court before signing the Rome treaty in 2000, and its reasons for withdrawing from it 2 years later.

This year’s panel of judges reviewed a wide range of work dealing with United Nations topics such as international law, civil war, desertification, discrimination against women and environmental protection.  The 2006 UNDPI awards, given jointly by the Department of Public Information and New York Festivals, will be presented by Raymond Sommereyns, Director of the Outreach Division, Department of Public Information, during the gala banquet on Thursday, 12 October, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

The UNDPI awards have been presented 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 eight international awards competitions: Television and Radio Advertising; Design, Print and Outdoor Advertising; Film and Video; Television Programming and Promotions; Radio Programming and Promotions; Interactive Advertising and Alternative Media; Financial and Communications Services; and Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Advertising, and has representation in 62 countries.

For more information, please call 212 963 6984 or visit www.newyorkfestivals.com.

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For information media • not an official record