St. John’s Antigua- An opportunity has presented itself for climate change reporters of the Caribbean to be awarded for their work.

The Caribbean Agricultural and Research Development Institute (CARDI) and The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) have teamed up for a second consecutive year to launch a Caribbean-wide Media Awards on climate change, a release said.

Under the theme “Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Sustainability” the initiative’s organisers seek to encourage broader and in-depth reporting, particularly on adaptation to the adverse impact of climate change in the Caribbean.

The competition targets full-time and freelance journalists and photojournalists working with print, new media, radio and television and covers work published or broadcast from August 2011 to August 2012.  Submissions for entries close on Friday, September 28, 2012.

“There will be one overall winner in each category. The winners will each receive a cash prize of US$1,200 and a trip to Antigua to participate in Caribbean Week of Agriculture activities during the first week of October, 2012,” the communiqué read. “Separate arrangements will be made for winners from Antigua.”

The awards categories cover: print news and features (newspapers, journals and magazines); new media articles (blogs, social media, websites); radio productions and news stories (traditional and online);  and television – news and features no longer than five minutes in duration (including online content).

A special category, Citizen Journalist, has been created to encourage youth participation in representing climate change creatively in arts and culture or essays, the release noted.

“This can be published or recorded material or new material specifically created for this competition,” the release read. “Young people between the ages of 18-35 years old are encouraged to apply.”

Submissions via print, online must be made through email (live links or scanned pages in pdf or jpg, soft copy versions in Ms Word and jpegs) while radio and television submissions must either be downloadable as mp3, mpeg or avi files, streamed via the Internet or submitted as a CD in mp3, mpeg or avi formats or in DVD format.

Entrants are not entitled to submit more than two pieces of work per category.

“Participants must, along with the submission, present a signed statement from the relevant authorised person/media house as copyright holder allowing use of the submission by the organisers on its websites or other outreach materials or methods,” the release said. “All submissions will be judged on the following values: Style – 25%, Content – 50%, Objectivity and Balance – 25%.”

Send queries, links, media files and scanned submissions to: agrimediaawards@gmail.com

All winning entries will be published on the CARDI and CTA websites at: www.cardi.org and the websites of partners.

Climate Change is defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as the “adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.”