Journalists recognised for epilepsy reporting
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18-Apr-2012
It was a pleasure to announce last week the winners of the 2011 Excellence in Epilepsy Journalism Award which recognises the work of journalists covering an often misunderstood condition.
This is the third year of the awards which are a joint initiative between the International Bureau of Epilepsy (IBE) and UCB.
Since the award began, we have seen some truly excellent journalistic work which raises awareness of epilepsy in a well-researched, authoritative and original way.
The judges wanted to see reporting which demonstrated a strong understanding of the condition but that could communicate this in an engaging fashion.
With dozens of high-quality entries every year, we are beginning to see a virtuous cycle emerging whereby some of the previous winners have continued to keep the spotlight on epilepsy through their work. This article in the New York Times, for example, is written by a past winner of the award.
In addition to the high standard of work submitted by entrants, it was also heartening to note that the competition is appealing to journalists from across the world. This year there were 49 entries from 24 countries, with journalists from Denmark, Ireland and Cameroon winning prizes for their work in print, broadcast and online formats respectively.
Their work was assessed by an independent seven-member judging panel which included media experts as well as people with first-hand experience of epilepsy.
For us, this wraps up the 2011 edition of the Excellence in Epilepsy Journalism Award – a project which began almost a year ago. But, if past experience is anything to go by, we hope this marks another step towards raising the quality of public understanding of epilepsy.
Read more about the winners and the criteria used by the judging panel.
This is the third year of the awards which are a joint initiative between the International Bureau of Epilepsy (IBE) and UCB.
Since the award began, we have seen some truly excellent journalistic work which raises awareness of epilepsy in a well-researched, authoritative and original way.
The judges wanted to see reporting which demonstrated a strong understanding of the condition but that could communicate this in an engaging fashion.
With dozens of high-quality entries every year, we are beginning to see a virtuous cycle emerging whereby some of the previous winners have continued to keep the spotlight on epilepsy through their work. This article in the New York Times, for example, is written by a past winner of the award.
In addition to the high standard of work submitted by entrants, it was also heartening to note that the competition is appealing to journalists from across the world. This year there were 49 entries from 24 countries, with journalists from Denmark, Ireland and Cameroon winning prizes for their work in print, broadcast and online formats respectively.
Their work was assessed by an independent seven-member judging panel which included media experts as well as people with first-hand experience of epilepsy.
For us, this wraps up the 2011 edition of the Excellence in Epilepsy Journalism Award – a project which began almost a year ago. But, if past experience is anything to go by, we hope this marks another step towards raising the quality of public understanding of epilepsy.
Read more about the winners and the criteria used by the judging panel.
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