“100 Syrian Voices against Hate Speech” Competition

Topics

For examples, articles can address one of the following topics:

• The role of hate speech directed against groups in igniting and fueling civil conflicts.
• The role of misinformation and false news in promoting hate speech against groups.
• The role of ignorance of the other and cognitive barriers in perpetuating hate speech against groups.
• The role of socialization in sowing the seeds of hate speech and perpetuating stereotypes against human groups in all their forms (ethnic, religious, national, etc.) and the dangers of this on the cohesion of societies.
• The role of the policies and practices of decision-makers (regulated or not) in the prevalence, (or reduction) of hate speech directed against groups.
• Trace the seeds of hate speech directed against groups in the Syrian folklore: songs, narratives, tales, popular proverbs, etc., and ways of positively influencing local communities to limit the popularity of this type of lore.
• The repercussions of hate speech directed against groups on national identity.
• Shedding light on stories and models that broke stereotypes and hate speech directed against groups during the Syrian war.

Any other topic from outside this list provided that it is consistent with the specific framework for this session (hate speech directed against human groups, and its impact on civil peace).

• They encourage focusing on the Syrian case, regardless of the content of the article and the angle of its treatment.
• They encourage the support of participating articles with numbers, statistics and documentation whenever possible.
• They encourage supporting reports that include anecdotes and stories with pictures, video clips, or audio recordings.
• They encourage clear reference to the sources and references drawn from, and point out that this matter will be taken into consideration when evaluating articles.
• They encourage attention to the accuracy and linguistic integrity of the article, and point out that this matter will be taken into account when evaluating the articles.

Prize Information

• The winning articles will receive financial rewards according to the following:
  • First place 500 euros
  • Second place 300 euros
  • Third place 200 euros
• The winning articles will be published with a summary of the jury’s comments in a special file on the “Syrian Voice” website during the first week of October.
• The “Syrian Voice” website has the right to publish the winning articles in audio format, and to use them to produce short videos and “podcast” episodes to be published on social media, while preserving the moral rights of the winners.

Eligibility Criteria

• Participation is open to female journalists of Syrian nationality and the like, regardless of the amount of previous experience and the current place of residence. (Every journalist born to a Syrian mother shall be treated as a Syrian.)
• The authors of the articles winning the first three positions in the previous two sessions are not eligible to participate.
• The competition is dedicated to written articles of all kinds (report, investigation, article, study) provided that the number of words in the article does not exceed 3000 words.
• Each contestant is entitled to participate with only one article, provided that the full article has not been previously published in any medium (including social networking sites, facebook, etc.)
• This course is devoted to researching “hate speech directed against human groups, and its impact on civil peace.

Details

• The results will be published along with the recommendations of the jury on the International Day of Peace (September 21, 2023).

For more information, visit Syrian Voice.