Call for Entries: Refugee Week Scottish Media Awards

Oxfam, National Union of Journalists, Amnesty International, British Red Cross and Scottish Refugee Council (and other members of the Asylum Positive Images Network in Scotland) are pleased to announce the call for entries for the Refugee Week Scottish Media Awards for journalists who have contributed exceptional and fair reporting of asylum in Scotland.

This is the second year of the Scottish Media Awards during Refugee Week that has evolved from one award originally as part of the 2005 Amnesty International Media Awards. We aim to establish it as a benchmark of journalistic excellence on reporting of asylum and refugee issues. The event is sponsored by the National Union of Journalists in Scotland.

The awards have increased and there will be four categories in this year's competition:

• print national (Scotland);
• print local;
• broadcast media;
• photography.

The award prize in each case is £200. The awards will be presented at a special event on the evening of Friday 22nd June 2007, as one of the highlights of Refugee Week in Scotland. The Refugee Week Student Journalism Award organised by Amnesty International Scotland and The Sunday Herald will also be presented.

Journalists are invited to nominate their own work or the work of their colleagues by submitting an example of their reportage for consideration. The public is also welcome to nominate work. Entries must have been published, or broadcast, during the period 31st May 2006 and 30th April 2007. Entries can be drawn from news coverage, features or opinion pieces.

We would like to encourage entries from journalists that demonstrate a positive contribution to our wider understanding of the asylum debate. Entries will be considered in terms of accuracy, originality and objectivity.

A panel including exiled journalists and women and men seeking asylum in Scotland will judge the award.

How to Enter

• You can nominate a piece of your own work or the work of a colleague.
• Members of the public can also nominate the work of a journalist.
• Entries must have been published or broadcast between 31 May 2006 and 30 April 2007. Entries can be drawn from news coverage, features or opinion pieces.
• The award is open to journalists working in Scotland, in print, broadcast or web-based media.
Submissions can be drawn from Scottish print, broadcast or web-based media.
• Journalists working for a named employer, working freelance or contributing voluntarily to a media outlet must have produced the submission
• A submission of work, which should have been published or broadcast in Scotland between 30th of May 2006 and 30th April 2007, should be submitted for consideration.
• Please send broadcast submissions in DVD or CD format if at all possible. 
• The deadline for submissions is Friday 4th May 2007
• The Judging Panel will include exiled journalists and people seeking asylum in Scotland.
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• The judges' decision is final.
• The judges will not enter into any correspondence regarding the judging of the competition.
• Oxfam is not able to return any submitted entries.

For further information on entering the Refugee Week Student Journalism Award please visit www.amnesty.org.uk/scotland or contact Michelle Lowe on 0844 800 9088 or scotland@amnesty.org.uk.The deadline for entries for the Student Journalism Award is Monday April 30th.

You can submit your entry by post, email or fax to:

E Mail:            jbergen@oxfam.org.uk

By Post:          Jason Bergen
                        Oxfam
                        207 Bath Street
                        Glasgow
                        G2 4HZ

By Fax:           0845 900 2233

Please mark all entries as 'Entry to Refugee Week Scottish Media Award'