Call for entries for the 2009 ICDB Awards in TV and Radio!

Every year, UNICEF awards broadcasters in television and radio with the best programming that reflects the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting theme, and who also demonstrates an overall dedication to youth-participation in media. This year’s theme, Unite for Children – Tune in to Kids, opened up possibilities for a wide range of programming and activities for broadcasters around the world.

If you participated in this year’s ICDB, we invite you to submit your program to compete for both regional and global recognition.  Please visit http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/video_18112.html for application materials, and to view examples of last year’s winners, including Ghana’s Curious Minds Radio Program, and China Central Television’s hour-long documentary, On the Way.  The deadline to submit to the UNICEF office in your region is 15 June 2009. We are excited to see your work!

For No Apto Para Adultos in Peru, the ICDB is a daily goal

From Bernardo Caceres, whose show NAPA TV celebrates the spirit of the ICDB every week:

Communication is a fundamental process in social life. Thanks to communication processes human groups share goals and organize to achieve them. Through communication processes we advance history, define the future. Is there anything more important in communications to work to make the world a better place for the next generations? For us at the weekly Not Suitable for Adults (napa.com.pe), which won the regional ICDB award in 2008, it is difficult to imagine anything more important. In our work each week to inform and to bring Peruvian adolescents communication and media skills, we work for positive change and a better world for the new generation.

For us this is a commitment that goes beyond one day a year, and it is a privilege that we owe to the opportunity created in Peru and now in 6 countries in the world, the Kids Network News Network (KNN), promoted by the Dutch organization Free Voice.

The challenge is huge. The new generation is submerged in a culture imposed from the centers of economic power worldwide. The media tries to convince them that only material enjoyment individual gives meaning to life, and to obtain these material goods you must live with indifference and in complicity of the destruction and unsustainable exploitation of resources of the planet.

But in young people rebellion is still alive, and our commitment is to strengthen them. We provide them information and security to confront the older generations, creating a more harmonious world with conscientiousness and compassion towards people and the planet.

Strong Plans in Uganda

An update from Michael Wangusa, UNICEF Uganda:

Over 50 of the about 120 broadcast stations in Uganda have so far confirmed participation in the International Children’s Day of Broadcasting on Sunday, 1 March 2009. Many of them are busy with preparations and some of them have already kicked off the celebrations by giving children an opportunity to speak out on their stations in various ways. Some stations  have already began running promotional spots about the ICDB programs that they plan to broadcast, which include talk shows, debates and quizzes among others.

The participating stations have written to me informing of the exact time when their ICDB programs will be aired. We have put in place a monitoring mechanism, which involves District Information Officers (DIOS) in selected districts, who will be listening in to and making comments on ICDB programs on stations in their areas. DIOs are local government officials. Officials from our implementing partner organization the National Council for Children (NCC), which is a government organization, will also be monitoring the programs. Staff members from UNICEF Uganda’s Communication Section will also be listening in to and watching the programs.

We have arranged to have ICDB posters and T Shirts sent out to the participating stations. The T-Shirts have the ICDB, Tune in to Kids, UNICEF and NCC logos. The T-shirts are for the children and two adult producers/presenters, who will participate in the ICDB programs. The posters will help with some local publicity. We will also have some articles written about the ICDB in the two national dailies and we will be issuing a press release next week. We have asked participating stations to take photos of the children in their colorful T-shirts during the ICDB shows, and if possible do short videos as well. We shall also be taking some of photo ourselves and are making our own documentary as well. After that the photos and videos will be availed to the media for publicity.

We have requested the participating stations to ensure that we receive their entries within to two weeks of the ICDB, by 15 March 2009. After that groups of panels of children from various parts of the country will judge the entries and we plan to complete the judging process by the end of April. We intend to have our ICDB national awards ceremony before June 15. We plan to enter the winners of the ICDB national competition in Uganda into the ICDB global competition this year.

European Children’s Radio Bridge

Radijojo from Berlin, Germany and Media Education Centre from Belgrade, Serbia have to finish our EuChiRa-European Children’s Radio Bridge Project. Our contribution for the celebration of the International Children’s Broadcasting Day will be Final Multimedia Exhibition with live streaming, internet radio broadcasting and for chat open audio video bridge. Like good example of our work with children you can listen Radijojo-Media Education Centre BELGRADE’S HUMMINGBIRDS radio show:

LISTEN OUR RADIO SHOW

we will have also our short film, animation and documentary film program made by international groups of children during our past multimedia workshop. For exemple we will show to you documentary film made with Mr. Erling Ericsson and his famous The Animation Box during our International Winter Multimedia Workshop in Becej, Serbia, December 2008: