On behalf of the COP15 host nation, Ulla Tørnæs, Danish Minister of Development Cooperation, will hand out one of the most prestigious prizes of the Internews Earth journalism Awards at a high profile ceremony to be held during the Copenhagen Climate Negotiations. The Climate Change Adaptation Award will be presented by her to  honour excellence in journalism that highlights efforts to adapt to climate change.

"It is crucial for nations around the world, their citizens and the media as a whole to grasp the need for adaptation and behaviour change in the face of climate change, and to embrace efforts made to minimize its effects that use the best of our ingenuity.  We are supporting this award in order to inspire further efforts and to show that development itself can be the way for our societies to meet the challenge of adaptation. On behalf of the COP15 host nation, I therefore encourage professional and citizen journalists from the developed and developing world to share with us powerful and inspiring stories of adaptation."

The focus of the winning story can be on any scale, from the personal level to communities, cities, countries, regions or even globally.

The Earth Journalism Awards have already attracted a major response from the media community with journalists from over 120 countries registering two months ahead of the deadline for entries.  They have also generated the support of variety of partners including the World Bank and the global youth broadcaster, MTV International.

For more information and to apply for the award visit the Climate Change Adaptation Award page.

The deadline for all submissions is September 7, 2009 (12pm, Paris time, GMT+2). 

Press Contacts:

Europe and International: 
Mark Harvey, Internews Europe
+44 7703 180 524

Charlotte Svennevig Jespersen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark
+45 33 92 00 74 / +45 50 77 86 14

USA:
John Boit, Internews Network
+ 1 202 468-9413