The One World Media Awards 2021 celebrate underreported stories from around the world (16 February)

We are par­tic­u­lar­ly look­ing at how the sto­ry is told: Is it ampli­fy­ing voic­es that are nor­mal­ly unheard? Is it an inspir­ing sto­ry that will cre­ate change? Does the sto­ry chal­lenge mis­per­cep­tions or stereo­types?

ENTER THE AWARDS

KEY DATES

• Open for entries: 12 Jan­u­ary, 2021

• Entry dead­line: 16 Feb­ru­ary, 2021 (17:00 GMT)

• Awards cer­e­mo­ny: June, 2021.

Eligibility

All entries should focus on sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to low- and mid­dle-income coun­tries across the glob­al south. This includes coun­tries across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin Amer­i­ca, the Mid­dle East, Rus­sia or the Post-Sovi­et States. Jurors will be look­ing for media that cov­ers under­re­port­ed sto­ries or new angles and approach­es to more famil­iar sto­ries.

Entries must have had their first screen­ing, broad­cast, the­atri­cal release, launch or pub­li­ca­tion between 13 Feb­ru­ary 2020 and 16 Feb­ru­ary 2021.

With the excep­tion of the Spe­cial Award, all cat­e­gories are open to entrants any­where in the world, as long as the work meets one of the fol­low­ing cri­te­ria:

• the entry has been broad­cast, screened or pub­lished (in print or in an estab­lished online publication/website) in the UK; OR

• the entry has been broad­cast or pub­lished (in an estab­lished print/online publication/website) inter­na­tion­al­ly and is avail­able for an Eng­lish-speak­ing audi­ence; OR

• the entry has been screened at an inter­na­tion­al film fes­ti­val

Selection Criteria

Entries will be eval­u­at­ed based on the over­all mer­it of the piece, with an empha­sis on:

Rel­e­vance, orig­i­nal­i­ty and cre­ativ­i­ty of the cov­er­age

• High­lights under­re­port­ed sto­ries or issues

• Explores new angles on famil­iar top­ics

• Chal­lenges mis­per­cep­tions and/or stereo­types of the glob­al south

Sub­stance and accu­ra­cy of the cov­er­age

• Depth of research and analy­sis

• Accu­rate and bal­anced report­ing that high­lights the voic­es and per­spec­tives of peo­ple in and from the glob­al south

Impact and reach of the cov­er­age

• Demon­strates the actu­al impact or poten­tial for the cov­er­age to catal­yse change

• May have prompt­ed addi­tion­al media cov­er­age or pol­i­cy change

• Con­sid­er­a­tion may be giv­en to the total audi­ence reached

Diver­si­ty

• Entries need to demon­strate a com­mit­ment to diver­si­ty and rep­re­sen­ta­tion in areas, such as: sub­ject rep­re­sen­ta­tion, themes and nar­ra­tives, project team, indus­try access and oppor­tu­ni­ties for diver­si­ty in audi­ence devel­op­ment.

Qual­i­ty of the cov­er­age

• Well-craft­ed, struc­tured and engag­ing

• High pro­duc­tion and edi­to­r­i­al val­ues

• Dis­tils and presents com­plex top­ics to the tar­get audi­ence in an under­stand­able and acces­si­ble way

Category Criteria

Dig­i­tal Media Award
For web­sites, inter­ac­tive online fea­tures, apps, inter­ac­tive doc­u­men­taries and oth­er dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies that use cre­ative and inno­v­a­tive tech­niques and con­tent to extend knowl­edge and under­stand­ing of, and engage­ment with, the glob­al south.

Envi­ron­men­tal Impact Award
For a piece of media, includ­ing broad­cast, online, audio, print or film, that explores the rela­tion­ship between peo­ple and the plan­et. In par­tic­u­lar, we are inter­est­ed in these areas: chang­ing cities, the cli­mate cri­sis, ener­gy, envi­ron­men­tal health, envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, food, water, wildlife and zero waste.

Fea­ture Doc­u­men­tary Award
For a fea­ture-length (over 40 min­utes) doc­u­men­tary film that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south.

Inter­na­tion­al Jour­nal­ist of the Year Award
For a film­mak­er or jour­nal­ist work­ing in any medi­um who has made the most out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tion to inter­na­tion­al jour­nal­ism dur­ing the past year.

News Award
For a sin­gle tele­vi­sion or online video news report or fea­ture that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south.

New Voice Award
For a young film­mak­er or jour­nal­ist work­ing in any medi­um, 32 years of age or under as of 16th Feb­ru­ary 2021, who has made a sub­stan­tial con­tri­bu­tion to inter­na­tion­al jour­nal­ism dur­ing the year.

Pop­u­lar Fea­tures
For a piece of media, includ­ing broad­cast, dig­i­tal, audio, print or film, that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south through cre­ative treat­ment of an issue. The media should reach a wider audi­ence poten­tial­ly less famil­iar with glob­al south and help to pro­vide a more accu­rate, bal­anced per­spec­tive.

Print Award
For a fea­ture arti­cle (750 words or longer) pub­lished in print or online that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south. This may include spe­cial­ist fea­tures such as sport, music, food and health.

Pod­cast & Radio Award
For an audio fea­ture, pod­cast, or sin­gle pro­gramme from a series, broad­cast on radio or online, that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south.

Refugee Report­ing Award
For a piece of media, includ­ing broad­cast, online, audio, print or film, that cov­ers refugee and asy­lum-seek­er issues by telling com­pelling sto­ries that gen­er­ate empa­thy, under­stand­ing and are report­ed on accu­rate­ly and fair­ly.

Short Film Award
For a short doc­u­men­tary film that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south. The short film must be between 5 and 40 min­utes.

Spe­cial Award
For an inde­pen­dent media organ­i­sa­tion based in the glob­al south using media to address social, cul­tur­al, polit­i­cal and eco­nom­ic issues. The Award seeks to recog­nise and encour­age out­stand­ing report­ing that informs the pub­lic, pro­vides an out­let for local people’s voic­es, cre­ates a space for crit­i­cal infor­ma­tion and holds those in pow­er to account.

Stu­dent Award
For a piece of media, includ­ing film, radio, dig­i­tal or print, made by a stu­dent as part of a jour­nal­ism or film­mak­ing course at a uni­ver­si­ty or film school that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south.

Tele­vi­sion Doc­u­men­tary Award
For a fac­tu­al jour­nal­is­tic pro­gramme broad­cast on tele­vi­sion or online, either stand­alone or one episode from a series, that deals with sto­ries, top­ics or issues in, about or relat­ed to the glob­al south.

Women Entre­pre­neurs Report­ing Award
For media, includ­ing broad­cast, dig­i­tal, audio, film or print, that explores women’s entre­pre­neur­ship in the glob­al south. Report­ing can show­case sto­ries of suc­cess­ful female entre­pre­neurs, the chal­lenges women face in try­ing to grow their busi­ness­es, and/or the crit­i­cal role that women entre­pre­neurs play in eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment by boost­ing growth and cre­at­ing jobs.

Frequently Asked Questions