Apply for EQUIROM Journalism Excellence Awards

Deadline: 9 April 2024

Are you a journalist aspiring to create a more inclusive society? Do you strive to fight against discrimination and racial prejudice? Are you passionate about Roma culture and history? Then this opportunity is for you! The Council of Europe’s Roma and Travellers team is putting out a call for applications for the Journalism Excellence Awards, as part of the EQUIROM project, an EU-Council of Europe joint programme.

The Awards seek to frame Roma communities in a positive light in the media. It supports the EU’s goal of encouraging a stereotype-free image of marginalised groups in order to change people’s assumptions.

The “Equality and Freedom from Discrimination for Roma” (EQUIROM) programme is a joint initiative by the European Union and the Council of Europe. This collaborative project aims to advance equality for Roma people in four Southern European countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Italy.

The purpose of the EQUIROM project is to prevent and combat antigypsyism and discrimination and promote equality for Roma people, in accordance with the EU Roma Strategic Framework and Council of Europe Strategic Action Plan for Roma and Travellers Inclusion by:

Combatting stereotypes in the media, raising awareness about the history and culture of Roma and other ethnic minorities including Roma Holocaust and contributing to building positive narratives about Roma by journalists and other media representatives;
Fostering closer co-operation and mutual understanding between Roma and pro-Roma civil societies, Roma communities and individuals, journalists and other media representatives;
Empowering Roma people, in particular Roma women and young people, to become front-runners in the fight against antigypsyism and gender stereotypes.

Aims

Through the proposed actions, EQUIROM aims to:
- Increase the capacity of media and journalists on antigypsyism and discrimination against Roma and other ethnic minorities
- Establish or improve cooperation between journalists, media representatives and representatives of public authorities with Roma and proRoma civil society organisations and representatives of Roma communities to raise awareness on how Roma are being portrayed by the media and to exchange good practices on combating stereotypes and the biased portrayal in and by the media.
- Raise awareness of public through broad communication campaign on antigypsyism and anti-Roma discrimination

Funding Information

Awards will be given to five journalism categories. These include photojournalism, investigative journalism, the best Interview, the best coverage of a global event, and an award for Young Journalists. The winners will receive a prize of €2000 during a ceremony that will take place on June 18, 2024, in Strasbourg.

Activities

Work with the media and regulatory authorities
- Train national and local media representatives on combating antigypsyism
- Conduct research studies on the representation and portrayal of Roma in broadcasting and on how Roma are portrayed by the media
- Engage with the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities and strengthen the regulatory authorities’ capacities by organising roundtable interactive exchanges, panel discussions and teach-in sessions on antigypsyism and anti-Roma discrimination
- Build capacity of teaching staff to pilot a syllabus on anti-Roma discrimination and gender equality in journalism schools or universities in Bulgaria, Greece and Romania
- Organise an Award/Prize for journalists for promoting a positive image of Roma, in particular of Roma women and young people, in online media
Work with Roma and pro-Roma civil society
- Develop and implement a series of seminars and workshops on racial and ethnic stereotypes, bringing together journalists, media representatives and representatives of public authorities with Roma and pro-Roma civil society organisations and representatives of Roma communities, with the aim of working together to combat stereotypes and the biased portrayal in and by the media, including on social media platforms.
- Establish partnerships with Roma and proRoma civil society organisations for the development and implementation of a broad communication campaign to fight antigypsyism and anti-Roma discrimination.
- Work with Roma and pro-Roma civil society organisations, Roma women activists and Roma youth activists to strengthen their skills of campaign design.
- Organise a webinar on Roma history teaching as a method to respond to and prevent antigypsyism, in partnership with the Council of Europe Observatory on History Teaching in Europe.