Award for Development Journalism to be awarded again

The Finnish Red Cross, the Finnish Foundation for Media and Development Vikes, the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation and the Union of Journalists in Finland are once again looking for Development Journalism Award nominees. In 2021, the theme of the award is climate change.

Award-winning journalism may address themes such as the effects of climate change in different countries, adapting to climate change or mitigating it, migration related to climate change or other themes related to global development and climate.

Journalistic content intended for the Finnish audience, committed to the Guidelines for Journalists and published in the media between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021, can be nominated for the award.

The content must be published in Finnish, Swedish, Sámi languages or English. Anyone can nominate recipients for the award between 1 October and 30 November 2021.

The winner will be selected by an independent jury and announced in January 2022. The winner will receive a EUR 3,000 cash prize, in addition to which a number of candidates may receive honourable mentions.

The jury has defined development journalism as content that addresses global sustainable development themes in a quality manner, reshapes the opinions and attitudes of the public and offers new viewpoints to the realities of developing countries.

The expert panel hopes to receive, in particular, nominations representing innovative forms of journalism from all fields of journalism. Non-fiction books may, however, not be entered into the competition.

Background

The Development Journalism Award was established by the Finnish Red Cross, the Finnish Foundation for Media and Development Vikes, the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation and the Union of Journalists in Finland. The purpose of the award is to highlight high-quality, innovative journalistic publications addressing global themes and increase the visibility and esteem of Finnish development journalism.

The award was first presented in 2020 toTaina Tervonen for her article ‘Kadonneiden laiva’ (the ship of the lost) published in Image magazine.