Organisers cancel gender and media awards

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Tuesday July 27, 2010 00:00

Coordinator of Gender Links Botswana, Keabonye Ntsabane said yesterday that   the competition has been cancelled to allow room for submissions for the Fourth Gender and Media awards to be held in Johannesburg on October 13-15 this year.  She said the deadline for submissions was moved from May 1 to July 15, 2010. 'This was to allow for coverage of the 2010 soccer world cup games,' she explained. 

Ntsabane said that only four people have forwarded submissions from Botswana but this is not surprising.  'We are a small medium so it is not surprising.  We cannot compete with big countries like Mauritius,' she said. She added that gender issues are not taken seriously in Botswana, and that most media houses still do not have institutional policies of reporting on gender and HIV/AIDS.  However, she is expecting at least 10 submissions from Botswana before the awards.   Ntsabane said that the awards are for journalists and media practitioners and trainers, gender activists, media regulators and anyone who agrees with 'Making Every Voice Count, and Counting That it Does' - the GEMSA slogan. News articles, features, opinion pieces, commentaries and student papers talk shows and documentaries are eligible for the awards. However, only news and documentaries will be accepted from television.

Ntsabane said that participants in the category of gender and economic reporting will have to give audiences the best understanding of opportunities and risks brought by 2010 FIFA World Cup from a gender perspective.

For investigative journalism, there should be sustained reporting on a particular issue; therefore a series of articles should be submitted. 'You will need to submit a series of articles of an investigate story that you followed for a certain period,' Ntsabane said.

Gender Links, MISA and GEMSA will be holding consultative workshops in 14 participating countries.

Representatives from the organisations will be in Botswana on August 12 and 13 to assist participants with filling of application forms.