OPPORTUNITIES: HIV/AIDS reporting contest open [Russia]

Professional journalists and students from Russia can participate in this contest.

The Russian Union of Journalists is accepting entries for its competition on HIV/AIDS reporting.

The competition will be held in the following categories: the best publication, the best broadcast or radio program, the best television program, the best publication on the Internet and the best documentary.

In May 2013, winners will be invited in Moscow, where they will be awarded prizes and diplomas.

The deadline is February 1, 2013.

For more information (in Russian), click here.

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SOCIAL MEDIA / ACTIVISM: HIV/AIDS awareness spread throughout social media

Young people throughout the Caribbean have participated in an online video competition to help spread the message of safe sex to prevent the spread of AIDS and HIV.

In an attempt to address the growing numbers on HIV/AIDS cases in the region, the non-profit organisation PSI Caribbean hosted a region-wide competition to find its next “Got it? Get it” brand ambassadors. The competition opened 1 April, 2012 with PSI Caribbean asking Caribbean youth aged 18-30 to create three-minute videos based on the theme ”Getting to Zero”.

“We have rallied together and have made huge strides forward in research, prevention, and treatment of this disease. This has brought us to a pivotal moment where we are, for the first time, daring to voice the reality that we can turn the tide and end HIV/AIDS,” said Cory McCullough, social media manager for Trinidad-headquartered PSI Caribbean and its “Got it? Get it” youth brand.

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GAMES / EDUCATION / HIV/AIDS: Fast Car: Travelling Safely around the World

Fast Car: Travelling Safely around the World is a racing game that helps you to learn about HIV and AIDS prevention and takes you on a tour of some of the World's Heritage sites.

The game aims to provide young people with accurate and reliable information about HIV prevention, intending to educate and entertain as well as promoting healthy behaviour. In this game, the player can race on circuits on five continents, and virtually visit some of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. It also presents images of sites and interesting facts about them as players race by.

There are two tracks for each continent - a Preliminary track and a Championship track. Every track has a set of check points. At the check point, one can take part in a Mini-Quiz, and possibly earn a time bonus. In the mini-quiz, the player will be asked a multiple-choice question related to HIV and AIDS prevention.

Download the Game

The game is available online for downloading free of charge in:

• English
• French
• Russian

More info

OPPORTUNITIES: Global Creative Contest

The Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GYCA), a program of TakingItGlobal, is organizing a creative contest for young people (15 to 29 years old) all over the world. The contest is focused on youth perspectives of HIV and AIDS and how this is communicated through creative expression. August 2010 – August 2011 was designated by the UN General Assembly as the International Year of Youth, a time when issues related to young people will be highlighted and prioritized, particularly in the context of the Millennium Development Goals. This key event provides an opportunity to explore themes with youth and capitalize on this focus on young people to bring creative youth voices to the forefront.

GYCA wants to take advantage of this opportunity to highlight issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights and how they relate to adolescents and young people.

Contest participants can choose to express:

Why comprehensive sexuality education is important for HIV prevention (CSE)
How stigma and discrimination affects young people living with HIV (S&D)
What sexual and reproductive health and rights mean to you (SRHR)

The creative works will be featured on the GYCA website, and may be used in campaigns and documents during the International Year of Youth and beyond, always giving credit to the artists. Winners will be announced on March 1 and a special GYCA newsletter will be distributed showcasing the top-rated submissions.'

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RESOURCES: Positive Life: New DVD series on HIV and AIDS

26-11-2010 (Paris) - A new DVD series on HIV and AIDS, entitled Positive Life, has been issued by UNESCO’s Network of Young TV Producers on HIV and AIDS in collaboration with the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD).

The eight short films contained in the series were produced at the Workshop for a Regional Co-production on HIV, organized prior to the 2010 Asia Media Summit in Beijing last May. The participants came from India, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Nepal and Vietnam. Their productions, in local languages with English subtitles, are about voluntary testing, safe sex, friendships and personal testimonies.

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NEWS / REPORTS: Suffer the children: media 'guilty of child negligence' (SOUTH AFRICA)

In a society that has forsaken its children, 'not doing enough' to eradicate scourges such as HIV/Aids, poverty, illiteracy, child abuse, prostitution, infant mortality and drug abuse that threaten the lives of the little ones, the onus lies on the media - as community watchdog - to show them some love. But, despite the Media Monitoring Africa's latest report showing an increase in children reporting, their voices are still missing in the newspapers.

Crystal clear

This became crystal clear yesterday, Thursday, 26 August 2010, when the report showed that only five out of South Africa's 13 mainstream newspapers performed well in terms of coverage of children and their issues.

Sowetan tops the list, followed by Daily Sun, Saturday Star, The Times and The Star, according to the MMA's ratings, which took account of diversity, rights respected, issues covered, voices heard and ethics.

City Press, The Citizen, Sunday Times, Sunday Sun, Sunday World, Mail & Guardian, Business Day and The Sunday Independent were all found 'guilty of child negligence' by the MMA, which described as troubling the fall of features and analysis pieces dealing with children since its last report.

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OneMinutesJr workshop on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine

15 teenagers from different regions in Ukraine have gathered in the UN House in Kyiv this morning to start a five-day project that might change their lives and the attitudes of many other people. They all are directly or indirectly affected by HIV/AIDS and will produce 15 short videos, the OneMinutesJr, over the course of this week.

Yukie Mokuo, the UNICEF Representative in Ukraine, welcomes the participants of the workshop and tells them about a similar workshop held in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk last year, where children of the same age successfully produced a series of videos on children's rights. "The films are so powerful", Mrs Mokuo says, "that we plan to have the films that you create this week shown at a huge international conference on HIV/AIDS in Vienna next month. And we will definitely also use them in November in a national conference on the same topic here in Ukraine."

More motivation comes from the fact that the films will all go live on the project website www.theoneminutesjr.org and that all participants are automatically registered for the annual OneMinutesJr award.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Apply now for J2J Vienna fellowships

Improve your coverage of HIV/AIDS through NPF’s highly rated J2J HIV/AIDS global media training program

Set for July 14-17, 2010 in Vienna, the training will include sessions from top experts on the economics, the science and the social issues, and will be tailored to the agenda of the 2010 International AIDS Conference, July 18-23. This training will prepare you to cover the IAC conference, and offer specialized sessions with practical journalism skills for reporting the HIV/AIDS story. See multimedia from last year’s program in Cape Town here. Fellowships include air travel, lodging, per diem and most meals.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, April 6. Application materials must be submitted in English or include an English translation. Applications or material sent via airmail or email will not be considered.

Click here for details.

NEWS / PROJECTS: Kenyan TV drama, ‘Shuga’, entertains as it raises AIDS awareness (AFRICA)

by Rod Huntress

NEW YORK, USA, 27 January 2010 – Partnerships play a vital role in UNICEF's efforts to halt and reverse the HIV/AIDS pandemic. When it comes to delivering messages about HIV prevention, the organization's work with media and entertainment partners such as MTV provides a valuable – and credible – connection to young audiences.

VIDEO: Watch now

Yesterday at its New York headquarters, UNICEF highlighted a recent collaboration with MTV with a screening of 'Shuga', a three-part TV drama about a group of young friends living in Nairobi, Kenya. As they explore the complexities of love, the characters confront the risk of HIV infection – and learn that a positive test result for the virus is not a death sentence.

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NEWS / WORKSHOPS: Young Journalists workshop helps children raise awareness on HIV stigma in Zanzibar (AFRICA)

Young Journalists workshop helps children raise awareness on HIV stigma in Zanzibar

By Jacqueline Namfua

ZANZIBAR CITY, Tanzania, 05 January 2010 - During a seven-day Young Journalists Workshop at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) Children’s Panorama, 24 children who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS had an opportunity to share their experiences.

“Everyone sits far away from you and the nurses give you this horrible look and attitude just because you are HIV-positive,” said Haulat, a 17-year-old orphan and workshop participant from Zanzibar.

The workshop participants belong to the Zanzibar Association of People Living with HIV/ AIDS (ZAPHA+) support groups scattered across Unguja and Pemba islands. These groups, supported by UNICEF, provide counselling, support and education for children facing challenges while living with HIV.

At the workshop, the children wrote their own articles and features for a newsletter, which was later distributed during the 10-day festival. The newsletters were also sent out to schools in Unguja and Pemba to raise awareness about HIV and reduce stigma and discrimination against children infected and/or affected by HIV and AIDS.

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NEWS: UNICEF hails departed SA youth AIDS activist (AFRICA)

Kenya - UNICEF has hailed departed South African youth AIDS activist and Digital Diarist Thembi Ngubane, who died Thursday at the age of 24.

The UN agency described the late Ngubane as “a uniquely positive force and a tireless campaigner for people living with HIV.”

In 2006, Joe Richman – a producer with the Radio Diaries project of National Public Radio (NPR) in the US – encouraged Ngubane to describe her life with HIV in the form of a diary on the NPR programme, 'All Things Considered'.

“Through her diaries, Thembi shared all she had learned about coping with HIV in her daily life in an open, gentle and humourous manner, offering hope and support to thousands of people affected by HIV and AIDS,” the agency said in a statement from Cape Town.

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