Johannesburg - The media fraternity in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been called on to participate in the 2013 SADC Media Awards competition.
The awards recognise excellence in journalism in the area of print, photo, television, radio, as well as to encourage media practitioners in member states to cover issues pertaining to the region.
Each category carries a prize of US$2000.00, which will be awarded during the 32nd SADC Summit of Heads of State in June.
Media is a critical stakeholder and has continued to play a significant role in advocating regional integration, said Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Deputy Minister, Obed Bapela.
Speaking at the official launch of the awards on Thursday, Bapela said it aimed to ensure that journalists are honoured for the good work they do for the SADC region.
Often, Bapela said, the stories of SADC and its people were not heard and the wards would ensure that they showcased the talent and the region’s development.
South Africa’s approach to regional integration continued to be informed by the fact that it remained inextricably linked to SADC and the entire African continent.
“The region has developed sound infrastructure in many areas, including communications, roads and transport. Many other programmes with a direct positive impact on the lives of the people of the region have been implemented over the past 30 years,” said Bopela.
The deputy mister said South Africa had always declared its vested interest in promoting regional development and ensuring improved conditions in the lives of South Africans and SADC citizens in general.
The SADC Media Awards were established following a decision by the Council of Ministers in 1996 to establish a sector that deals with matters relating to, amongst others, information, culture and sport.
The awards serve as part of ensuring a link, coordination and synchronisation between the formal structures of SADC governments, civil society, academia, labour and the media.
The competition also consists of the Water Media Awards, which are aimed at recognising stories that promote Integrated Water Resource Management in the SADC region.
The competition is administered by the National Adjudicating Committee (NAC), which is responsible for adjudicating in member states for submission to the Regional Adjudication Committee (RAC).
The NAC is represented by media practitioners, journalists of different media houses as well as government officials.
Deputy Chairperson of the National Adjudicating Committee, Felicity Levine, remained journalists to adhere to the strict competition rules.
Among the rules is that entries should have been published or broadcasted between January and December the year preceding the awards (2012) by a registered media house or agency in any of the SADC member states.
All works entering the competition should be in English, Portuguese and French and should be submitted as they were published or broadcast either by newspaper cuttings, websites, magazines, audio CDs or video cassettes/DVDs.
Print journalism submissions should have a minimum of 600 words and a maximum of 2 000 words.
Broadcast or televised materials should have a minimum duration of five minutes and a maximum duration of 30 minutes and all broadcast material should be accompanied by a transcript in any of the three SADC languages.
The closing date for entries is 31 March 2013.
Journalists who wish to enter the competition can access more information about the competition, including competition rules, from the GCIS website link: https://www.gcis.gov.za/content/newsroom/advisories/post_sadc_entries2013. – SAnews.gov.za
