Nominations open for One World Media awards

I recently spent a very enjoyable night in the pub with some friends who work in international media, one of them works for One World Media http://oneworldmedia.org.uk/

A really interesting organisation (which I was a bit embarrassed to admit I didn’t know much about) which offers scholarships to UK students wanting to report on the developing world, as well as a fellowship programme which brings broadcasters from the developing world to the UK to experience media institutions.

Nominations for their annual awards close at the end of January. They’re high profile – recent winners include Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4’s diplomatic editor who recently chaired a debate in London about the role of women in the Arab Spring. She, quite justifiably I would say, won Journalist of the Year.

The discussion in the pub was long and passionate, and probably not that interesting for the members of the party who did not work in journalism. But the key insight that came out from it was ‘show me the money’. That there are millions of fascinating stories out there just waiting to be told, which could take the form of an innovative radio soundscape, a newspaper feature, or an online audio slideshow; but of course the problem is always how do professional journalists get paid enough to make the outlay of time necessary to get these stories right.

One World Media offers one such opportunity for young professionals, and there are other organisations such as the Knight Fellowship offering sabbaticals. For others, it’s often a question of cobbling together funds from disparate sources and accepting that you might not necessarily make any profit on a trip. Other sources of funding gratefully received!