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Eligibility Rules and Submission Guidelines

“Narratives of Hope: Inspiring Peaceful, secure and inclusive Futures”

Influencer Eligibility Rules and Submission Guidelines Page

The Influencer Award acknowledges the significant impact of digital influencers who use their platforms to bring about positive social change within the IGAD region. This category honours individuals who:

  • Engage in meaningful online activism and advocacy.
  • Promote awareness on critical social, economic, and environmental issues.
  • Foster community engagement and mobilise support for various causes.
  • Inspire positive action and influence public opinion through creative and effective digital content.
  • Nominees for this award should exhibit a strong commitment to leveraging their online presence to drive impactful change and contribute to the betterment of their communities.
  • Influencers must submit a brief video outlining why they should be nominated.
  • Video content should be in MP4 format.
  • Entries should be no longer than 10 minutes.
  • For large files, please utilize Google Drive or similar services, ensuring appropriate access permissions are enabled.
  • Nominated influencers will undergo background checks by a panel of jurors before being put up for public voting.

Eligibility

  • There is no entry fee.
  • The competition is open to all journalists, freelance or full-time, and independent content producers based in the IGAD region, and beyond.
  • Work submitted must be published or broadcast in media outlets based in the IGAD or beyond.
  • Work submitted must have been broadcast or published between January 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023.
  • Any content submitted in any given category must cover one IGAD member country or more.
  • Competitors must be based in one of the IGAD member countries and must be a citizen of one of the IGAD member countries.
  • Foreign media are also invited to participate in under the Foreign Media window.
  • Only the categories listed for competition are eligible for any news articles, broadcasts single topic or subject etc.
  • If a story series is submitted, all parts of the story series must be entered into competition.
  • Submission of content in national languages is encouraged but must be accompanied with translations and scripts in either of IGAD official languages (English and French).
  • National mainstream languages are: Amharic, Arabic, Luganda, Somali, and Swahili.
  • If a story with a shared byline is submitted, a letter from an editorial supervisor must be provided, detailing each team member’s contribution.

Competition Theme/Categories

Detailed information about the competition categories is available here.

  • Participants may submit one entry only per category. The same one submission may not be entered into more than one category.
  • Participants are not allowed to compete in more than two categories.
  • Participants may submit a maximum of two entries  in two different categories for competition, including one shared byline if any.

File Formats for Entries/Awards Categories

All entries must include the date(s) and place(s) of publication as well as the  outlet in which they were published or broadcast.

Print Entries

  • All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.

  • All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  • Print entries should be submitted as clean, clearly legible, and text recognisable PDF documents. The date of publication must be clearly visible.
  • Photographs should be sent, as published, in JPEG, PNG and also in PDF most preferable PDF format optional or as cuttings of the original published copies.
  • News illustration entries should be sent in PDF format or as cuttings of the original copies.
  • Entries submitted in a format other than the recommended ones will be disqualified.

Radio/Podcast Entries

  • All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.

  • All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  • All work must be submitted in full audio form. Radio scripts without accompanying sound bites will be disregarded.
  • Emailed entries must be in MP3 format (not under 128 bitrate).
  • Entries must not be longer than 15 minutes
  • Large files should be sent using Google Drive. If you choose to send files using a third party platform, please send an email to mediaawards@igad.int (subject: IGADMediaAwards2024)

Television Entries

  • All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.

  • All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  • All work must be submitted in the same format in which it was broadcast.
  • Emailed entries must be in MP4 (most preferably), AVI or MOV format.
  • Entries must not be longer than 20 minutes.
  • Large files should be sent using Google Drive or other large file FTP services like SendSpace and BigFiles. Ensure that you enable all necessary access permissions.
  • If you choose to send files using a third party platform, please send an email to mediaawards@igad.int (subject: IGADMediaAwards2024).
  • If a link to a YouTube channel or video is provided, full access to enable viewing and download must be provided.

Online/Print Publications

  • All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.

  • All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  • Journalists should provide offline versions of the online published work in legible, machine-readable PDF format.
  • Working live or cached links for the articles must be provided as well to ascertain publication or broadcast.

For further inquiries about the IGAD Journalists Awards 2023, write to mediaawards@igad.int, Subject: ‘IGADMediaAwards2024 Inquiries’.

Best  Female Reporter

  • All submissions must come through the online submission form provided.

  • All entries must be clearly labelled with the name of the participating journalist(s) and story title.
  • All work must be submitted in the same format in which it was broadcast.
  • Emailed entries must be in MP4 (most preferably), AVI or MOV format.
  • Entries must not be longer than 20 minutes.
  • Large files should be sent using Google Drive or other large file FTP services like SendSpace and BigFiles. Ensure that you enable all necessary access permissions.
  • If you choose to send files using a third party platform, please send an email to mediaawards@igad.int (subject: IGADMediaAwards2024).
  • If a link to a YouTube channel or video is provided, full access to enable viewing and download must be provided.
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For more details

Email: mediaawards@igad.int