Penplusbytes 10th Anniversary Pan African New Media Essay Competition

Penplusbytes 10^th Anniversary Pan African New Media Essay Competition

www.penplusbytes.org

Languages – French and English

Deadline: 15^th July 2011

Penplusbytes in association with Highway Africa announces first Pan African New media essay completion. The competition aims at increasing journalism students' knowledge and understanding of the importance of new media in our changing world.

Topic:

In a quest to define Africa's sustainable future in ten years time (2021), through critical thought in the media. Discuss what role will new media play in the social, political and economical transformation of the African continent? And how can we get there?

Who is eligible?
Student enrolled in public and private journalism, mass communications and media schools at the under graduate level on the Africa continent still in school by September 2011.  Students must submit original essay and have a sponsoring lecturer preferably head of department signed entry form.

Format
The essay should be 800-1000 words typed and must be double spaced. Each entry must be accompanied by an entry form downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/3thz24y

Entering
Send all entries (essay and forms) via email to training@penplusbytes.org

Prizes

The winners of this pan Africa Award will receive very attractive prizes.

1^st Place:  Fully paid participation in Highway Africa Future Journalists Programme workshops in Cape Town South Africa, September 2011 plus $300 (Three Hundred US dollars)  spending money.

2^nd Place: iPad 2  

3^rd Place: Net book laptop

4^th place – Small format video recorder

 

5^th to 10^th Places– certificate of commendation

Dates to remember:

 

Entry Deadline: 15^th July 2011                                                                       Notification of Awards:  15^th August 2011

Visit http://tinyurl.com/3thz2  to download an entry form

Power and Pressure: The Media in Africa

A Special Program Sponsored by the Committee on Global Thought, the International Media, Advocacy and Communications specialization at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and the Institute for African Studies. This half-day day conference at Columbia University  taking place on  April 27 2011 will look at the state of the media in Africa, as well as how the media is covering two of the most pressing issues currently facing the continent: the growing role of the extractive sector in the region's economy and the elections taking place this year.  African Elections Project of Penplusbytes is expected to be presented at this conference.

 visit  http://cgt.columbia.edu/events/panel_on_africa_media/  for more details 

Workshop : "The Role of New/Social Media in the Promotion of Press Freedom"

Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is organizing a one-day workshop on the impact of new/social media on development, scheduled for Tuesday, 19th April 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at the Ghana International Press Centre, under the theme: "The Role of New/Social Media in the Promotion of Press Freedom". The workshop is part of GJA's celebration of the 2011 World Press Freedom Day on May 3, which is under the theme: "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers".

      Chairperson – Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, Chairman, National Media Commission (NMC)

      Welcome Remarks – Mr. Ransford Tetteh, GJA President

 

Speakers/Topics

The State of Social Media -Global overview and The Frontiers and Barriers to Social Media  -  Ms. Myra Michele Brown U.S. Embassy

Challenges to Journalistic Standards in a Digital Age -Kwami Ahiabenu,II www.penplusbytes.org

Professor Linus Abraham, Director, NAFTI

Media Laws and Regulations in a Digital Age -Mr. Berifi Apenteng, NMC

Mrs. Abena Asafu-Adjei - Director of Legal Services, NCA National Communication Authority (NCA)

 

Social Media: the Gender Challenges- Ms. Dorothy Gordon    D-G, Kofi Annan International IT Centre

PAIR - Programme for African Investigative Reporting

The Programme for African Investigative Reporting (PAIR) works to support and develop investigative journalism in Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.

 PAIR has been developed by International Media Support (IMS) and the Danish Association of Investigative Journalism and is carried out in cooperation with West Africa Media Foundation.

visit   http://www.i-m-s.dk/area/pair  for more information

PhD scholarship on new media, citizen and community journalism in Africa, University of Central Lancasshire, UK

International PhD Scholarship
Project Title: Confronting the 'dream deferred': Of new media, citizen and community journalism in Africa
University of Central Lancashire - School of Journalism, Media and  Communication

Reference No INT-036Ogola

Applications are invited for a full-time scholarship available in the School of Journalism, media and Communication. The scholarship is tenable for up to 3 years for a PhD (via MPhil route) [subject to satisfactory progress] and is open to international applicants only. UK/EU applicants are not eligible to apply. The scholarship will provide £15000 towards the cost of the International tuition fee over 3 years.

Project Title: Confronting the 'dream deferred': Of new media, citizen and community journalism in Africa

Project Description:
The 1990s was epochal in the history of Africa. Pluralist politics was re-introduced with the news media playing a critical role in giving visibility to and participating in this transformation. However, poor media legal and policy regimes in a number of countries frustrated the  growth of an independent media sector. As such, nearly 20 years into the 1990s political transformation, 'media freedom' remains the dominant narrative around which the continent's media sector is still discussed.
A spontaneous corrective to the mainstream media however began to emerge in various social and cultural institutions in the late 1990s.The  increasing availability and adoption of ICTs gave new emergent alternative media and journalistic forms new platforms to develop new  narratives through which to articulate the reform agenda and encourage public participation. While this 'alternative' media sector is still not independent of state structures and policy regimes, new media technologies have enabled the adoption of and development of new forms of journalistic practices and platforms that easily elude various economies of state control.

Social media, blogging, citizen and community journalism, mobile news,are all aspects of and drivers of this 'alternative' media sector. This project intends to examine the growth of this sector, looking at ways in which it has acted as a corrective to Africa's stalling media  liberalization process. The project hopes to interrogate the space social media and other participatory forms of journalism are negotiating within the continent's media landscape as well as the new practices they are developing as critical tools capable of engaging with and facilitating the continent's democratization process.

Applicants should have, or expect to receive a qualification equivalent to a high class UK honours degree.

Informal project related enquiries may be directed to George Ogola email googol@uclan.ac.uk Tel 01772 894829

Application Forms can be found at: www.uclan.ac.uk/studentships

Completed application forms should be emailed to researchdegrees@uclan.ac.uk

The closing date for applications to the Graduate Research Office:Friday 13 May 2011 5pm British Summer Time

Proposed Interview Date: 2 June 2011