A Contest that Promotes Excellence Among Asian Journalists
By Graham Dwyer TOKYO, JAPAN (28 March 2005) - Seventeen journalists from nine developing countries in Asia and the Pacific are gathering in Tokyo this week as finalists for the 2005 Developing Asia Journalism Awards, organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Institute.
The countries represented this year among the finalists are People's Republic of China, Fiji Islands, India, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Viet Nam.
The event, which recognizes excellence in journalistic reporting by those covering development trends and issues in the region, will be a reunion for five of the journalists who were finalists at the inaugural awards last year.
These include last year's Development Journalist of the Year and category winner Massoud Ansari of Pakistan. Also returning are another 2004 category winner, Lalitha Sridhar of India, and 2004 category runners up, Zofeen Ebrahim of Pakistan, Jofelle Tesorio of the Philippines, and Hoang Tu Giang of Viet Nam. See full list of 2005 finalists.
Prizes for 2005 will be awarded for reporting in four strategic areas of development - poverty issues, people and development, development agencies and development, and women and development - with winners and runners up each receiving cash prizes ranging from US$1,500 to $250.
In addition, there are four special prizes of $2,000 each plus trophy for Development Journalist of the Year, Development Woman Journalist of the Year, Young Development Journalist of the Year (for entrants under 30), and Island Journalist of the Year.
The finalists have been invited to attend an all expenses paid trip to Tokyo for a two-day program starting on Wednesday in which they will visit newsrooms of the international media and the ADB Institute. The program culminates in the awards ceremony on Thursday evening at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ).
The winners will be chosen by a distinguished panel of judges headed by current FCCJ President Anthony Rowley, Tokyo Correspondent for the Business Times of Singapore and Field Editor for Oxford Analytica. The other judges are Yoshio Murakami of the Asahi Shimbun, Suvendrini Kakuchi of Inter Press Service, and Monzural Huq of the Daily Star and two national dailies in Bangladesh.
The Tokyo-based ADB Institute, organizing and sponsoring the awards for the second year, was established in 1997 to help build capacity, and knowledge related to poverty reduction and other areas that support long-term growth in developing economies in the Asia and Pacific region.
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