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7th Edition of the Isu Elihle Awards Competition

Deadline: 15-Jun-23

The Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) launches its 7th edition of the Isu Elihle Awards Competition – an African ground breaking initiative that promotes and supports ethical, engaging and quality reporting on children’s issues.

The phrase, Isu Elihle is isiZulu for “great idea”. As the name suggests is an awards competition that challenges journalists to submit high quality child-focused story ideas that are  innovative, places children’s issues at the centre, involves children’s voices when it is in their best interest, and holds the powerful to account.

The competition aims to empower and equip journalists through mentorship, sharing of resources and providing financial support to help them to develop and publish their stories in any mainstream news media platform of their choice. This encourages journalists to challenge how they see children engage with the issues that affect them. This results in a remarkable journey of growth evident in the initial story idea, all the way to the final published story.

Prizes
  • Overall Winner: ZAR 25 000
  • First runner up: ZAR 15 000
  • Second runner up: ZAR 10 000
  • Mandy Rossouw Category (“MRC”): Between ZAR 10 000 and ZAR 25 000.
  • Please note that it is possible for one of the top 3 winners to be selected as the winner of the Mandy    Rossouw Category. In this case they would take two cash prizes. It is also possible that the MRC will not be awarded based on judges’ final decision.
Stages of the Competition
  • First Stage: Submission of the story idea.
    • Journalists submit their story ideas before or on the deadline indicated. These ideas will go through an adjudication process, undertaken by a panel of judges made up of children, child rights experts and independent media practitioners. Following the adjudication process, the top six finalists will be announced online and across social media platforms and where possible on mainstream media.
  • Second Stage: Producing and publishing the full story.
    • The top six journalists will be given financial support of up to R10 000 each to research and develop their concepts into publishable news items, which will then be published or broadcast, by a mainstream news media house of their choosing. Please note that individual journalists must take sole responsibility to approach a mainstream media house and secure an agreement to publish/broadcast with the media house in question should their story idea be selected as part of the top six.
    • The top six stories will undergo adjudication and only the top three are guaranteed to win a cash prize. There is a fourth cash prize, that is “The Isu Elihle Mandy Rossouw Accountability Category” (MRC). This fourth prize is conditional, it will only be awarded if there is a story (in the top six) that meets the criteria for the category. The amount of money to be awarded for the Mandy Rossouw prize will be determined by the quality of the story published.
Eligibility Criteria
  • The Competition is open to professional journalists, whether directly employed or freelancers, working in the continent of Africa.This pertains to the following countries: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  • Please note by submitting your entry, you confirm that you have read and agree with the following rules:
    • The Competition is open to professional journalists, whether directly employed or freelancers, working in the continent of Africa.
    • No entry fee is payable.
    • Employees and the immediate families of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the adjudicators are not eligible to participate in the competition.
    • The Competition is held in English. Therefore all entries and story ideas must be in English.
    • Each Applicant is strictly limited to a maximum of one entry; however, each media house can have as many applicants as it wishes.
    • Late, incomplete, illegible and/or fraudulent entries will be disqualified.
    • MMA reserves the right to refuse entries that do not comply with the rules. No correspondence will be entered into in this regard.
    • A panel of distinguished, independent judges with appropriate knowledge and experience of children and the media will adjudicate the competition. The panel of judges will be determined by MMA at their sole discretion. Children will also form  part of the judging panel.
    • No handwritten applications will be accepted. All applications must be completed online using the online form, which is available here.
    • The judges reserve the right to transfer entries for consideration in other categories at their discretion, for instance the Isu Elihle Mandy Rossouw Accountability Category.
    • The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
    • The top six Finalists selected by the panel of judges will be taken to the final story-writing round of the competition. MMA will provide financial support to enable the journalists to write and complete their stories in the timeline provided. All Finalists will be individually responsible and accountable to MMA for their costs. Each Finalist is also required to provide MMA with invoices and any other supporting documents for all expenditure related to production of the story. Any irregular expenditure will lead to the Finalist being disqualified and being held liable to repay to MMA any  amount claimed and already expended.
    • Should MMA require the top six Finalists to travel to the Awards or to other related activities, sufficient notice will be given, however each Finalist will be required to arrange for their visas and any other documentation required for travel. MMA will cover travel and accommodation costs.
    • Finalists will be expected to be available for the duration of the programme and participate fully in the calendar of events that are expected to take place on those dates as indicated under the Isu Elihle Awards Timeline.
    • Finalists must acknowledge that this is only a competition and the awarding of any prize does not give rise to an employment agency or joint venture relationship or partnership arrangement between the Finalists and MMA.
    • The top six Finalists are required to  send a signed written confirmation from the mainstream media that supports them, that acknowledges that they will be publishing their story/stories otherwise the journalist may be disqualified.
    • MMA and UNICEF must be acknowledged in the published story i.e (This reporting was supported by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and UNICEF as part of the Isu Elihle Awards.)
    • Individuals and media houses enter this competition at their own risk. MMA and its affiliates cannot be held liable for any injury or accidents, fatalities or damage incurred whilst participating in this competition including any incurred while travelling to research.
    • By submitting your entry, you confirm that you have read and agree with these rules and agree that should you be in breach of the terms, you may be disqualified from the competition.
    • Journalists must submit new story ideas and not ones that have been previously published or previously presented to their media house in a finalised version. Stories are required to be newsworthy and current.
    • Journalists are encouraged to submit high standard work.
Criteria for Judging Entries
  • Please note that both the story idea and the published story will be judged according to the criteria.
    • Journalists must ensure that the focus of the story idea/story is on an issue that impacts children and that extensive voice is given to children. Children are defined as any persons between the ages of 0-17 (under 18).
    • Story ideas and the published story must be ethically challenging, newsworthy and impactful and journalists must:
      • Consider the best interests of children;
      • report ethically on the story and consider the most ethical manner in which children can be treated by the journalist when reporting on them; as well as;
      • determine how to give children a voice in the story.
    • Journalists must adhere to ethical practices and principles in the planning and execution of the story as MMA will not tolerate the violation of children’s rights in any shape or form.
    • Journalists must ensure that the story takes a fresh, innovative, and different approach/perspective to children’s issues and/or includes an excellent  investigative angle when reporting on child related issues.
    • Journalists must be able to complete the story in the stipulated time frames.
    • Journalists, must in their submission, ensure that there is clarity on the issues at hand and must consider the extent to which the story will engage and capture its  audience. The story could be about an area that is not commonly given a children’s angle such as the economy or economic impact on children, land issues, investment or an existing news story and giving it a children’s focus.
    • Stories must  highlight possible solutions to the problem or issues that children face.
    • Journalists must ensure that the story challenges common negative stereotypes about the roles of children in society, especially within the gender debate.
    • The story should also explore relevant legislation of policy issues related to the issue being explored.

For more information, visit Isu Elihle Awards Competition.