Human Rights Defenders - News Release
Human Rights Defenders NewsAI Index: AMR 20/C20/2001
Date: 13 December 2001
Amnesty International Canada: 2001 Media Awards Winners
Outstanding journalism describing life on death row in the United States, exposing the abduction of young women forced to fight as "guerilla girls" in Sierra Leone, and chronicling the transformation of life since the days of segregation in Alabama in the sixties were recognized today with the announcement of the 2001 winners of Amnesty International Canada's seventh annual Media Awards. These awards are for reporting of international human rights issues in the Canadian English media. The winners for journalism in French are announced in a separate news release.*
For national print the winner is Glen McGregor for "Letters from Death Row" printed in The Ottawa Citizen on 26 August, 2001.
"This piece carries the reader in an honest, unsentimental way to the world of coerced confession and withheld evidence of one of thousands awaiting execution across the United States", says Alex Neve, the Secretary General of the English branch of Amnesty International Canada. "The story of one man graphically illustrates the flaws of the whole process."
In the local/alternative print category the winner is Stewart Bell for "Guerrilla Girls" that was printed in Homemaker's in April 2001.
"The plight of young women abducted and forced to be fighters in Sierra Leone is used to illustrate the story of the child soldiers around the world who are often forgotten", notes Neve.
"It highlights the special needs of these victims of physical and sexual abuse that must be addressed".
The video/audio reports winner this year is Bruce Edwards for a radio documentary called "Gee's Bend - The Crossing", broadcast on "Dispatches" on CBC Radio on 14 February, 2001 about the recognition of rights in the southern United States.
"In a masterful way Bruce Edwards has woven together voices and music illustrating the transformation and redemption of a segregationist finally bridging the gulf between black and white, with the re-opening of a river ferry in rural Alabama", says Neve. "Respecting rights means not only recognizing what is wrong but changing attitudes."
This year the judges also gave an "honourable mention" in the video/audio reports category to Vera Frankl's powerful exploration of the impact of music therapy on a young women locked in silence after enduring the horror of torture, told in "Muna's Story" broadcast on "Dispatches" on CBC Radio on 17 January, 2001.
The annual Media Awards from Amnesty International Canada are made in memory of John Humphrey, a law professor, principal author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and founder of the Canadian section of Amnesty International.
The judges for the English Media Awards this year were Jacques Bourbeau, Global TV, Dave Todd, an international affairs specialist currently working as editor of Choices, the United Nations Development Programme's flagship magazine, Jill Vardy, National Post and lecturer at Carleton University, Katia Gianneschi, a former board member of the English branch of Amnesty International Canada and John Tackaberry, Media & External Communications for the branch.
The awards are for national print, local /alternative print coverage and video/audio reports printed or broadcast in the period from October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001
"The struggle for human rights is always about individuals, victims of an unfair system, blocked by outdated attitudes, or hidden from view", says Neve. "The winners this year have shown how they can expose issues, attitudes and areas that have to addressed if human rights are to be fully respected."
* The Amnesty International Canada Media Awards for excellence in coverage of international human rights in French were announced today in a separate news release. In the national print category the winner was Ibrahim Ould-Hammou for a series of articles in the daily newpaper Metro in particular about Afghanistan and the International Criminal Court. The winner in the video/audio category was Danny Braun for a series of reports on human rights in Tunisia broadcast in May on Radio-Canada's "Dimanche Magazine". Click here for a link to the AI Canada Francophone section website.
For further information, please contact:
John Tackaberry,
Media Relations
(613) 744-7667 #236