“Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals” Journalism Award Second Edition

Regulations

1. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the international news agency IPS Inter Press Service invite entries for the second edition of a Journalism Competition on "Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals."

2. The articles submitted must be devoted to the main issues addressed by the Millennium Development Goals -- poverty, hunger, primary education, gender inequity and equal participation by women, maternal health and infant mortality, the fight against AIDS and other diseases, environmental sustainability -- their causes and ways of overcoming them, and promoting a global partnership for development. In this second edition, stories and analysis concerning the impact of the present financial crisis on the global efforts to achieve the MDGs shall be of special interest.

3. The competition will award prizes to the best five reports, features, stories, interviews or news articles of any kind, published between October 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009 in a printed medium with a permanent periodical circulation as well as on informative websites of the civil society or community organizations of Latin America and the Caribbean. The articles must have been originally written for these media.

4. The three articles judged to be the best will be awarded prizes of 5,000 US dollars (USD), USD 2,500 and USD 1,000, respectively. The top five articles will appear in a book to be published together with a selection of news articles produced by IPS on the same subject, written within the same time period as that specified for the competition.

5. Latin American and Caribbean media professionals may enter this competition individually, as a group, as a team or representing a communications medium.
In the case of group or team entrants, they may include professionals in areas other than social communication whose work has been published by a printed means of communication.

6. Articles may be submitted in Spanish, Portuguese, French or English.

7. The winning entries will be selected by an international jury with five members, chosen by agreement between the organisers from among representatives of organisations working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and of the worlds of culture and communications. The jury will make their decisions by simple majority, and their decisions shall be final.

8. The winning entries will be announced before October 1, 2009, at a time and place to be decided by the organisers.

9. Entry Requirements:

a. One (1) copy of the original publication plus five (5) typed copies (if the entry is being sent by post); OR the original publication, full-page, and the medium's certification, both scanned at 100% at a definition of 150 dpi/ppp, plus the article transcribed as a Word file (if the entry is being sent by electronic mail).
b. It is essential to include certification by the medium, specifying the date of publication of the article.
c. Articles in English or French must be accompanied by a translation into Spanish or Portuguese.
d. The Registration Form attached to these Regulations must be completed.
e. All materials, whether they are sent by post or by electronic mail, must be sent together in a single package.

10. Candidates should send their work and the specified documentation by post to:

IPS Inter Press Service
Sede Regional América Latina
Juan Carlos Gómez 1445/piso 1
11000 Montevideo – Uruguay

OR by electronic mail to: concursoODM@ipslatam.net

Submissions arriving at these destinations later than July 15, 2009 will not be accepted. The organisers will send an e-mail to confirm receipt of the material submitted.

11. Completing the Registration Form implies that the candidate accepts these Regulations. Candidates who do not fulfil all the requirements will not be considered by the jury.

12. If a group or team from a communications medium is awarded a Prize, the Prize shall be given to the designated person whose name appears on the Entry Form, or failing that to the first-named author.

13. If a Prize is awarded to a deceased author, it shall be given to his or her legal heirs, or to their nominee.

14. UNDP and IPS shall be authorised to use any or all of the entries for publication and broadcasting purposes, which shall be not-for-profit. On no account shall any originals be returned to authors.

15. Employees and direct collaborators of UNDP and IPS shall not be eligible to be considered for Prizes.

16. The Jury may choose not to award a given Prize for lack of qualified candidates.

17. Candidates may enter more than one article.

18. Candidates may be presented by professional associations of communicators, the communications media, representatives of UNDP and IPS in Latin America and the Caribbean, and all associations, agencies and personalities involved in the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals, with the author's consent.

19. Work that has previously been entered, or won prizes, in other communication competitions at local or national level, may be entered for this Competition.