Note to Correspondents

New York Festivals/United Nations Department of Public Information Awards

for Radio Programming Presented on 24 September

 

Winning Entries Explore Stories on Humanitarian Response

To Crisis Situations, Holocaust Remembrance, Poverty and Education

Radio programming from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States will be honoured on Friday, 24 September, when the United Nations Department of Public Information awards are presented as part of the New York Festivals Radio Program and Promotion Awards at the Manhattan Penthouse, New York City.  Lena Dissin, Deputy Director and Officer-in-charge, Outreach Division, will present the awards on behalf of the United Nations Department of Public Information.

The Gold Award will go to ABC Radio, Australia, for “ Afghan Hospital - Abdul’s Story”, the Silver Award to Beacon Shropshire, United Kingdom, for “The Holocaust Remembered” and the Bronze Award to ABC Radio, Australia, for “Delhi Woman”.  In addition to the three winners, the judges awarded an honourable mention to Sirius XM Satellite Radio, United States, for The Bandwagon Special:  One Voice.

“ Afghan Hospital - Abdul’s Story”, a segment on the show PM, tells the story of the Role 3 Combat Hospital in Kandahar, one of the busiest emergency rooms in Afghanistan.  It follows the stories of two boys who were wounded in separate blasts over 24 hours, giving a sense of the individual tragedy of civilian casualties, which can be lost in war reporting.

“The Holocaust Remembered”follows a group of British schoolchildren who visit a concentration camp in Poland, where they learn about the horrors of the Second World War.  In addition to the responses of the children, the broadcast features testimony from Holocaust survivors.

“Delhi Woman”, broadcast on Correspondents Report, is a first-person report by a news correspondent who observed the suffering and physical decline of one of the many thousands of homeless people living on the streets of New Delhi.

In “The Bandwagon Special: One Voice”, a children’s music director meets and sings with students at the Brain Tree Primary School in Kyanja, Uganda, as well as in their sister institution, the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  The show provides a view from a children’s perspective of what makes people around the world different, and what makes them the same.

Jointly sponsored by the United Nations Department of Public Information and New York Festivals, the radio awards were established in 1990 to honour exceptional radio programming that best reflects and exemplifies the values, aims and ideals of the United Nations.

The New York Festivals (NYF), founded in 1957, oversees three international awards competitions, NYF Radio Programs & Promotions Awards, NYF Television & Film Awards, and NYF Advertising in All Media Awards.

For more information, please contact Joanna Piucci, tel.:  212 963 7346, e‑mail:  piucci@un.org, or Carlos Islam, tel.:  212 963 2985, e-mail:  islamc@un.org, or visit www.newyorkfestivals.com.

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For information media • not an official record