London: The Guardian International Development Journalism Competition 2009 has now reached its final stages with the announcement of the 16 finalists. The finalists (eight professional and eight amateur journalists) will be given final assignments relating to international development issues and taken on trips to various countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean so that they can experience and investigate these issues first hand.
The competition is a collaboration between the Guardian, Marie Stopes International and seven other non-government organisations (NGOs) and was launched in April with the financial support of the Department for International Development and Glaxo Smith Kline. Both amateur and freelance professional journalists were encouraged to submit articles on key development issues before the June deadline.
One of the finalists from the professional category, Rebecca Stewart, wrote on one of Marie Stopes International’s themes, focusing on the appalling toll unsafe abortion has on young women’s lives in Zambia:
Legal but they don’t know it. Another, Candida Beverage, wrote a disturbing piece on women’s rights in Sumatra:
No money, no baby.
The winners – one professional and one amateur – will be announced at an award ceremony in November, after which all the final assignments will be published by the Guardian newspaper in special supplements.
The other NGO partners in the project are Amref, British Red Cross, Farm Africa, Find Your Feet, International Childcare Trust, One World Action and Panos London.
To view the articles, visit www.guardian.co.uk/developmentcompetition.