IGAD Media Awards 2023 “Cooperation for Resilience against Drought Effects”

Deadline: 31 July 2023

Applications are now open for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Media Awards 2023 to promote increased, factual and accurate reporting on drought resilience in particular, while the Media Awards initiative as a whole is destined to fostern realtions with media, promote journalism in the region and increase visibility of IGAD broadly.

Through the IGAD Media Awards, the regional organisation and partners intend to:

Recognise and reward excellence in reporting on matters related to resilience to drought in the region;
Inspire journalists in the region and beyond to report more on matters surrounding drought in the region;
Promote accurate reporting and investigative journalism as well as creativity and innovation in presenting information about drought, resilience, and food security; and
Encourage media practotionners to involve centres of excellence in science, technology and innovation from inside and outside the region to shed light on persistent and frequent droughts and associated food insecurity in the region.

Entries/Awards Categories

Entries shall consist of the following:
- Print (Papers, Magazines)
- Audio (Radio, Podcasts)
- Photography Journalism
- Audio-Visual (Television, Youtube)
- Digital (Digital Paper and Blogs)
- Foreign Media

Competition Theme: Journalists are invited to submit original pieces and content of their work that highlight the benefits of ‘Cooperation for resilience against drought effects’, which can come in many shapes and forms. They encourage journalists to submit original pieces and content that explore the benefits of bilateral and/or multilateral cooperation in the fight against drought effects through a range of lenses, including food security, climate change, ecosystems management, water resources management, migration, regional investment projects, and much more. Why do they need cooperation on these issues? How do the people of the IGAD region benefit when countries decide to cooperate? They particularly welcome submissions with a strong focus on the impact of transboundary cooperation in these matters.

Prize Information

Winning particpants will be invited to a two-day training session on IGAD mandate, programmes, achievements and challenges, which also consitutes a networking opportuinity with peers and with drought centres of excellence.
Invitation to participate in some IGAD major events through a journalists’ accreditation process to IGAD. This will also provide winning media practitionners the opportunity to participate in IGAD gatherings, and access content and experts.
Certificate and token prizes.

Target Group: The Awards are open to all practicing journalists as well as freelancers in the mainstream media, multi-media outlets from the 8 IGAD countries and are citizens of one of the IGAD member countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

Eligibility Criteria

There is no entry fee.
The competition is open to all journalists, freelance or full-time, and independent content producers based in the IGAD region, and beyond.
Work submitted must be published or broadcast in media outlets based in the IGAD or beyond.
Work submitted must have been broadcast or published between January 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023.
Any content submitted in any given category must cover one IGAD member country or more.
Competitors must be based in one of the IGAD member countries and must be a citizen of one of the IGAD member countries.
Foreign media are also invited to participate in under the Foreign Media window.
Only the categories listed for competition are eligible for any news articles, broadcasts single topic or subject etc.
If a story series is submitted, all parts of the story series must be entered into competition.
Submission of content in national languages is encouraged but must be accompanied with translations and scripts in either of IGAD official languages (English and French).
National mainstream languages are: Amharic, Arabic, Luganda, Somali, and Swahili.
If a story with a shared byline is submitted, a letter from an editorial supervisor must be provided, detailing each team member’s contribution.

File Formats for Entries/Awards Categories

All entries must include the date(s) and place(s) of publication as well as the outlet in which they were published or broadcast.
- Print Entries
- All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.
  - All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  - Print entries should be submitted as clean, clearly legible, and text recognisable PDF documents. The date of publication must be clearly visible.
  - Photographs should be sent, as published, in JPEG, PNG and also in PDF most preferable PDF format optional or as cuttings of the original published copies.
  - News illustration entries should be sent in PDF format or as cuttings of the original copies.
  - Entries submitted in a format other than the recommended ones will be disqualified.
- Radio/Podcast Entries
  - All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.
  - All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  - All work must be submitted in full audio form. Radio scripts without accompanying sound bites will be disregarded.
  - Emailed entries must be in MP3 format (not under 128 bitrate).
  - Entries must not be longer than 15 minutes
  - Large files should be sent using Google Drive.
- Television Entries
  - All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.
  - All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  - All work must be submitted in the same format in which it was broadcast.
  - Emailed entries must be in MP4 (most preferably), AVI or MOV format.
  - Entries must not be longer than 20 minutes.
  - If a link to a YouTube channel or video is provided, full access to enable viewing and download must be provided.
- Online/Print Publications
  - All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.
  - All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  - Journalists should provide offline versions of the online published work in legible, machine-readable PDF format.
  - Working live or cached links for the articles must be provided as well to ascertain publication or broadcast.