In the run-up to the World Tuberculosis Day 2011, REACH, a city-based non-profit organisation, has announced the second edition of the REACH Lilly MDR-TB Partnership Media Awards.
These will be conferred on journalists who have produced effective, in-depth and relevant stories on tuberculosis and have conveyed these to a wide audience.
This year, the awards will be given in two categories: English and Indian language print journalists. The two best entries in each category will receive Rs.30,000 and Rs.20,000. All entries submitted by journalists must carry a byline and must have been published in a news publication in India between January 2010 and January 2011. Stories must highlight the aspects of TB or TB-related complications sensitively and accurately. All submissions will be evaluated by an eminent panel of specialists. The awards will be presented in March.
Informed and accurate journalism can have a significant impact on public understanding of tuberculosis, a crucial public health concern in India. The country bears one-fifth of the world's TB burden; this is compounded by lack of awareness of the disease and its consequences — most of all, that it is completely curable. “These awards recognise outstanding reporting and commentary in print that increases the common man's knowledge and understanding of TB and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB),” says Anurag Khera, Director, Corporate Affairs, Lilly India.
The last date for submission of entries is January 25, 2011. To submit entries, REACH can be contacted at 9791017202, or through email reach4tb@gmail.com. More details are available at www.media4tb.org/blog.
