The Amnesty International Media Awards are a set of awards for human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 journalism awarded annually by the UK section of Amnesty International

Amnesty International

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

. The awards recognise and reward human rights journalists who have made a significant contribution to the UK public's greater awareness and understanding of human rights issues.

Established in 1992, the awards fall into several categories, mostly selected by an independent panel of judges. Judges are selected from the media, the arts and entertainment industries, the NGO sector, academia and the legal profession. Senior members of staff at Amnesty International also take part in the judging process within the categories but have no final vote or additional influence over the choice of winners.

The most recent awards ceremony was held on 2 June 2009 in London.

Purpose of the awards

Amnesty International believes that in recognizing excellence in human rights journalism journalists and commissioners are encouraged in increasing the quality and quantity of their human rights coverage. The event generates mutually beneficial publicity both for shortlisted entrants and for the organization, and it also allows journalists and Amnesty's media team to network, facilitating better links between the UK media community and human rights campaigners.

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News International Editor, commented that

Amnesty Awards are really important. Because sometimes it’s very hard: you go in to see your editor and you say “something’s happening in such and such a country”; and it’s obscure, and it’s far away, and it’s expensive, and it’s difficult to get to, and there’s a much more interesting and immediate story somewhere else. And then maybe you point out that you won an Amnesty Award for a similar story a couple of years ago, and it makes them think: and it makes them think that they get some sort of kudos from this, and that it matters within the industry. So I think it’s tremendously important and I think Amnesty is doing a tremendous job by giving us these awards so that we can use them to say, "Yes, we’ve got to carry on reporting human rights, it really matters.

Entry criteria

Each year there is a call for submissions focusing on the areas of human rights work encompassed by Amnesty's mission, which is "to protect individuals wherever justice, fairness, truth and freedom are denied."

Entries must have been originally published or broadcast in the year preceding the closing deadline. There is an entry fee to help Amnesty cover the cost of administering the awards. The full criteria is available in the Media Awards section of the Amnesty International UK website, and are detailed on the entry form sent out each year around four months before the ceremony.

Categories

Categories open for entries are:

• Television documentary and docudrama
• Television news
• Radio
• National newspapers
• Periodicals - including weekend national print magazines and supplements
• Photojournalism
• Nations and Regions Award - print or broadcast media in Wales
  Wales
  Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
  
  , Northern Ireland
  Northern Ireland
  Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
  
  , Scotland
  Scotland
  Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
  
   and the English
  England
  England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
  
   regions
• International TV and radio
• New Media
• Gaby Rado Memorial Award - this award was established with the help of the family, friends and colleagues of the journalist Gaby Rado
  Gaby Rado
  Gaby Rado was a British television journalist who died in Iraq during the 2003 invasion....
  
  , who was found dead in Iraq
  Iraq
  Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
  
   in 2003. It recognizes a journalist who has been covering national or international human rights stories in broadcast or print media for less than five years.
• Special Award for Human Rights Journalism Under Threat - the final award, selected by Amnesty International UK, is awarded to a journalist or group of journalists at particular risk because of their commitment to covering human rights issues in their own country.

The ceremony

The ceremony is held annually in central London

Central London

Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...

 and is attended by around 400 guests, including politicians, celebrities, and prominent figures in the UK media industry. The host, usually a high profile member of the UK media, conducts the ceremony and the various awards are presented by representatives from each of the judging panels. Past hosts have included singer and political activist Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof

Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...

 and popular English broadcaster Moira Stuart

Moira Stuart

Moira Clare Ruby Stuart OBE is a British journalist who was the first African-Caribbean female newsreader on British television...

.

External links

• Amnesty Media Awards section of Amnesty International UK Section website
• Previous winners list
• Amnesty Media Awards 2006 video