OSCE Office in Baku presents journalists with environment prizes

BAKU, 21 January 2004 - The OSCE Office in Baku has today awarded prizes to four Azerbaijani journalists for their engagement in environmental issues.

In his speech at the prize-giving, Husein Bagirov, Azerbaijan's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, said that he hoped the competition would contribute to the development of environmental reporting and encourage journalists' interest in this critical subject area.

"The opening of the Public Environmental Information Centre last year and this journalist competition are very important elements in involving Azerbaijan's public in the environmental decision-making," he said.

Ambassador Peter Burkhard, Head of the OSCE Office, said: "Good and factual journalism is a key in raising public awareness about the environmental challenges Azerbaijan is facing today. The fundamental job of journalists, and particularly journalists dealing with the environment, is to make people think and help them to make informed judgments about issues and events that influence their day-to-day lives."

Ambassador Burkhard stressed that the development of a society depended on the quality of the information it received. "This needs the contributions of the government, civil society, media, business community and all other parties interested in supporting democratic changes in the country," he said.

The winners were selected from over 140 entries to a competition entitled 'Environment in Journalism: making the important interesting', which was organized by the OSCE Office. The awards went to journalists who, through their work, have encouraged public participation in the environmental decision-making process and promoted the Organization's principles regarding responsible and professional media work and the unimpeded flow of information.

The entries included news stories, columns, articles and features published in Azerbaijani media outlets during 2003. The winners were acknowledged as the best of a total of 50 finalists and were presented with special certificates and money prizes by Minister Bagirov and Ambassador Burkhard.

The annual 'Environment in Journalism' prize was created at the opening of the Aarhus Environmental Information Centre in Baku on 23 September 2003. The panel of judges comprised media professionals, journalists, scientists and environmental managers of international oil companies, operating in Azerbaijan.

The Aarhus Convention defines the relationship between people and governments in environmental matters, in particular concerning the access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice. It was adopted on 25 June 1998 at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the 'Environment for Europe' process held in Aarhus, Denmark. Azerbaijan ratified the Aarhus Convention on 23 March 2000.