Nov

20

Just received the information that young journalists from all over Europe have the possibility to take part in the “European Young Journalist Award on EU Enlargement issues“, which has been officially launched in Brussels on november 15th. The title is: “Enlarge your visionâ€?.

The organiser is the European Commission, Directorate-General for Enlargement, in cooperation with the European Youth Press association. The objective of the competition is to encourage young journalists to reflect on and express their views on the European Union’s enlargement policy.

During its 50 year history, the European Union has grown from originally 6 member states to 27. With a population of close to 500 million inhabitants, today’s Union is much stronger and more influential than with its 6 member states and a population of less than 200 million. Enlargement is one of the EU’s most powerful policy tools. The pull of the EU has helped to transform Central and Eastern Europe into modern, well-functioning democracies. More recently it has inspired farreaching reforms in the candidate and potential candidate countries (Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo under UN Security Council Resolution 1244). All European citizens benefit from having neighbours that are stable democracies and prosperous market economies. Enlargement is a carefully managed process which helps the transformation of the countries involved, extending peace, stability, prosperity, democracy, human rights and the rule of law across Europe.

Young European citizens in particular are taking advantage of this community of diverse values and cultures, as it is getting easier for them to travel and learn other languages through EU exchange programs. In the long run, they are the ones who will benefit most from EU enlargement. By formulating their ideas of the future Europe, young journalists are important opinion-leaders for their generation. In the framework of the competition, participants are asked to submit a recently published article (publication date between January 2007 and March 15, 2008). On the special competition website (www.EUjournalist-award.eu ) they can find articles on the EU enlargement, written by their colleagues, as inspiration for their journalistic work. Entries for the competition can be written in one of the official EU languages or one of the languages of the candidate and potential candidate countries.

At the end of the competition each participating country will select a national winner and all 35 winners will undertake a 3 day trip through Western Balkan countries together. In addressing the young competitors, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn said: “I welcome the launch of this competition and look forward to learning more about the views of young journalists on the enlargement policy. They are important opinion-leaders for their generation. I would like to invite them to share their experiences and visions of our common European future. Their ideas will further nourish the debates that will determine the shape of our continent.�

National juries made up of media representatives will select the winning article from each country in April 2008 and the articles will be published on the competition website. All the 35 winners will be invited on a trip through Western Balkan countries and will have the opportunity to participate in a conference with media representatives from various countries in June 2008. “Winners will not only be awarded but also get the chance of exchanging with experienced colleagues and media professionals. With this award we foster a network of young journalists between EU countries, candidate and potential candidate countries�, underlined Anna Siitam, spokes-woman for European Youth Press as the umbrella organisation of 48.000 young journalists in Europe.

For information on how to enter the competition, please visit www.EUjournalist-award.eu


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This is the private blog of Joachim Dethlefs, german journalist and student of slavistics from the town of Hamburg. Here you will find a lot about Media, Blogging, Slavistics and Germany.



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