Media Take a Bow for Championing Child Rights
DHAKA, Oct. 10 (NsNewsWire) — UNICEF today honoured 48 media professionals for their outstanding contribution in championing the rights of children during the 12th Meena Media Award 2016 held amid fun and festivity.
The ‘Meena Media Award’ has come of age as it stepped into the 12th year in 2016 after being launched in 2005 to celebrate excellence in creative media and journalism in both print and electronic streams.
The award is named after Meena, a popular animation character endeared by children and adults alike in Bangladesh and elsewhere in South Asia. To mark the 12th Anniversary of Meena Media Award, one new category (News Photography-Online/Print Media) and one new award segment (Reports/Creative contents including Videography) has been introduced. The 12th award ceremony has brought children’s voices to the forefront through a colourful cultural event and a celebration of the contribution that the media have made to change the lives of children.
Information Minister, Mr. Hasanul Haq Inu, MP and Mr. Dzidula Masiku on behalf of UNICEF Bangladesh, presented crests, award money and certificates to the winners.
Congratulating participants and award winners, Dzidula Masiku said, “Every year this award ceremony is growing in terms of numbers of submissions. This reflects the ever-increasing commitment of the media in advancing child rights. However, to protect and promote the rights of children and ensure equity, there is no room for complacency. I, therefore, urge the media to report more and more on children and issues directly impacting their lives so that gross rights violations against children can be put to the past.”
The 12th Meena Media Award has generated overwhelming response as it received more than 700 entries. Award nominees were selected by a panel of judges through a competitive process from both print, online and broadcast media. Broadly divided into ‘creative’ and ‘journalistic’ categories, entries have been sought from print, online, television and radio under specific age groups.
The first, second, and third award recipients of each category and age-groups received BDT 50,000 (USD600), BDT 25,000 (USD300) and BDT 15,000 (USD190) in cash prizes respectively in addition to a crest.
An eleven member expert panel of judges comprising of creative writers, veteran media professionals and academics assessed each entry through a strict marking process where the names of the participants were replaced by a specific code number to ensure non-biased judgement. The judges included, Selina Hossain, Shahnoor Wahid, Robaet Ferdous, Fahmidul Haque, Zakir Hossain Raju, Qadir Kollol, Ratan Paul, Mithila Farzana, Rafiqur Rahman, Jannatul Mawa and Abu Naser Siddique.
To add a festive feel and colour to the occasion, children living in a local drop-in centre in Dhaka and coming from disadvantaged and marginalised backgrounds, staged a cultural performance against the beats of music and traditional drums.