WASH Media Awards 2007-2008
The WASH Media Awards initiative is designed to promote awareness about water supply, sanitation and hygiene issues through investigative journalism in print and broadcast media, and is expected to attract a pool of talent from all over the developing world. WSSCC is partnering for this second edition with the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
The WASH Media Awards aim to support the International Year of Sanitation by generating interest and action for the 2.6 billion people lacking access to safe sanitation and by recognizing and supporting the crucial role of the media in attracting attention to and influencing the WASH crisis.
From the evaluation process to the Awards Ceremony
146 entries have been submitted from 40 countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Central, South and Southeast Asia.
The entries have been sent for evaluation to an international jury panel that selected a winner in each of the three language categories, namely English, French and Spanish. An additional winner was nominated for a "gender" prize.
The four winners were invited to participate to the World Water Week 2008 in Stockholm from 17 to 23 August 2008, where the Awards Ceremony took place.
The jury members were:
English
- Robert Lamb, One Planet Productions, UK (TV) - Jury Chair
- Madeleine Morris, BBC World, UK (Radio)
- Nadia El-Awady, Islam Online, Egypt (Print)
French
- Bernard Robert-Charrue, Dev Tv, Switzerland (TV)
- Elisabeth Bonneau, Radio France, France (Radio)
- Mouhamed Gueye, Le Quotidien, Sénégal (Print)
Spanish
- Oscar Ugarte Ordoñez, TV Viva la Tierra, Ecuador (TV)
- Lisbeth Fog, Colombian Association of Science Journalists, Colombia (Radio)
- Claudia Mazzeo, Agencia CyTA, Argentina (Print)
Winners of the WASH Media Awards 2007-2008
- Ms Windred Onyimbo, winner - English language category, Kenya, Trans World Radio, for her radio reportage "Disease in a bottle"
- Ms Claudine Efoa Atohoun, winner - French laguage category, Benin, Office of Radio and Television, for her radio reportage "Dassa, la commune des 41 collines"
- Ms Cátia Toffoletto, winner - Spanish language category, Brazil, CBN - Radio São-Paulo, for her radio reportage "Water, the waste condemning São-Paulo"
- Ms Salome Gregory Sumbya, winner - Gender category, Tanzania, Mwananchi Communications Ltd, for her article "This is Same, where fetching water means children miss classes"
To listen to the winning radio reportages, or read the article, please click on their respective names.
For being the best of more than 140 entries submitted from 40 countries, the winning journalists travelled to Stockholm, for the 17-23 August World Water Week, where they participated in sessions, conducted interviews and collected their awards in front of leading water, sanitation, environment and development experts.
From left to right on the picture (WASH Media Awards ceremony at the World Water Week in Stockholm): Anders Berntell - Executive Director SIWI, Winfred Onyimbo, Robert Lamb - Jury Chair, Salome Gregory Sumbya, Jon Lane - Executive Director WSSCC, Cátia Toffoletto, Claudine Atohoun.
Second place:
- Yamikani Mwando, English language category, Zimbabwe, freelance, for his article "Cholera fears as Bulawayo water crisis continues"
- Tamara Hendel, Spanish language category, Argentina, Eye Works Cuatro Cabezas, for her TV reportage "Agua contaminada"
- Dieudonné Soubeaga, French language category, Burkina Faso, Libérateur, for his article "La grande épreuve du péril fécal"
Third place:
- Budiman Arif, English language category, Indonesia, Astro Awani Jakarta, for his TV reportage "The heavy burden of protecting the water"
- Julia Fabiola Torres López, Spanish language category, Peru, Empresa Editora El Comercio S.A., for her article "Antiguedad de colectores pone al Lima al borde de crisis sanitaria"
- Euloge Aïdasso, French language category, Benin, Golfe Télévision, for his TV reportage "Ganvié, une cité qui se meurt"
To read the press release please click here.