News release: The Guardian International Development Journalism Competition Finalists Announced

23 July 2008
London, 23rd July 2008: The groundbreaking Guardian International Development Journalism Competition has now reached its final stages with the announcement of the 16 finalists.

The competition was a collaboration between the Guardian, Malaria Consortium and seven other non-government organisations (NGOs) and was launched in March with the financial support of the Department for International Development (DFID). Both amateur and freelance professional journalists were encouraged to submit articles on key development issues before the May deadline.

"The competition microsite proved to be incredibly popular; there were over 16,000 visitors who spent far longer than usual on a site of this type," said Julian Rose, head of advertising and sponsorship at Guardian Professional. "We have also been very impressed by the number of entries, especially given the nature of the competition and the length of the article required."

Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary, said: "I am delighted there were so many entries to the competition and that the standard of articles was so high. This highlights the UK public's growing interest in global poverty and issues relating to international development. I look forward to reading the winning submissions in due course."

Dr Sylvia Meek, Technical Director of Malaria Consortium said "I am very encouraged at the great interest this competition has attracted, and look forward to working with the finalists on their country assignments.  This will be an excellent opportunity to reach new audiences with information on what can be done to control malaria and other neglected diseases, and we hope will provoke a longterm media interest in these issues."

The 16 finalists (eight professional and eight amateur journalists) will now be given final assignments relating to international development issues and taken on trips to various countries in Africa and Asia so that they can experience and investigate these issues first hand. The winners - one from each strand - will be announced in November when all the final assigments will be published by the Guardian newspaper in special supplements.

The other NGO partners in the project are Marie Stopes International, Camfed International, HelpAge International, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Plan UK, Sightsavers International and WaterAid.

To view the articles, visit www.guardian.co.uk/developmentcompetition.

For more information on Malaria Consortium's involvement in the project go to

http://www.malariaconsortium.org/pages/guardiandevelopmentcompetition.html

Contact: Sarah Pickwick, Malaria Consortium, Advocacy Assistant, 020 7549 0217 [email protected].