Note to Correspondents

NEW YORK FESTIVALS-UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION AWARDS TO BE

PRESENTED TODAY TO BROADCASTERS, TELEVISION PROGRAMMES REFLECTING UN IDEALS

Television programming on issues of importance to the United Nations will be honoured today at the New York Festivals Television Broadcasting Awards Gala at Tribeca Rooftop, New York City.

Eric Falt, Director of the Outreach Division, United Nations Department of Public Information, will present the New York Festivals-United Nations Department of Public Informationawards to broadcasting companies from Australia, the Philippines, Spain and the United States.  “I’m delighted to see the issue of the status of women represented in two of the winners,” said Mr. Falt.  “This is a priority for the Secretary-General, who has pledged to tackle this year the global scourge of violence against women.”

The Gold Award will be presented to TVE, Madrid, Spain, for “African Women, The Heart of Life”.  By interweaving narratives of three groups of women in East Africa, this documentary addresses the issues of HIV/AIDS, economic empowerment and post-conflict rebuilding and reconciliation.  In the first vignette, women with HIV/AIDS in Uganda, who are part of a culture that has a rich oral tradition, create a written legacy for their daughters.  By keeping journals, the women will leave their children life lessons and maternal advice.  The second story looks at widows in Kenya who have lost their inheritance by refusing to remarry.  These women live and work together in small communities and set up small businesses of selling fish bones to support themselves.  In the last narrative, women in Rwanda start to rebuild a country where genocide has changed their traditional role.  According to the documentary, almost half the members of the Rwandan Parliament are women, who advocate for reconciliation, economic empowerment and better access to education.

The Silver Award is shared by two nominees.  ABC-TV of Sydney, Australia, is a co-winner for “Foreign Correspondent:   India Widows”.  This report gives a voice to women who have been shunned and abandoned by their families, a condition that transcends all castes.  The loss of a husband leads to isolation, despair and economic hardship for these widows, who make their way to Brindavan in South India to live out their lives, dependent on the assistance of local families and charities.  The report cites an estimated 40 million widows in India, many of them widowed in their 20s and 30s, having been married to much older men.

The other co-winner of the Silver Award is Current TV, San Francisco, US, for “War Wounds”.  This short piece looks at post-conflict rehabilitation in Sierra Leone, where different organizations build houses for amputees and other war-wounded survivors.  People are returning to the villages they abandoned during the 11-year civil war, and while one third of the population remains displaced, amputees are having the most difficult time reintegrating into society.  With many camps where the amputees once lived now shut down and turned into markets, the new housing gives them a renewed sense of belonging.

The Bronze Award goes to GMA Network, Quezon City, Philippines, for its investigative report, “Emergency:  Kids Burning Copper”, which profiles adolescent boys who rummage through Smokey Mountain, a garbage dump in Manila, looking for copper wire and other materials, such as aerosol cans and computer parts, to burn and sell to junk shops.  These children risk developing asthma and other respiratory illnesses in order to financially support their families.

Jointly sponsored by UNDPI and New York Festivals, the awards were established in 1990 to honour television programming that reflects and exemplifies the values, aims and ideals of the United Nations. 

The New York Festivals, founded in 1957, oversees six international awards competitions, in film and video, television programming and promotions, radio programming and promotions, television and radio advertising, design and print advertising and interactive media.

For more information, please contact Joanna Piucci, tel.:  212 963 7346, e-mail:  piucci@un.org, or Dina Daoud, tel.:  917 367 1088, e-mail:  daoudd@un.org.

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For information media • not an official record