Paris, November 10, 2009 - Internews, the international NGO that works to empower local media worldwide, announced the fifteen winners of the Earth Journalism Awards today, and opened the online public voting to find the winner of a sixteenth prize. The finalists were selected out of some 900 journalists, bloggers and young creatives from 148 countries who registered to send in their best climate change reports from 2009 in the lead up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month.

"The Earth Journalism Awards were established to boost climate change coverage in this critical year leading up to Copenhagen, and to highlight the efforts of journalists reporting on this challenging subject around the world," says James Fahn, Internews' Global Director of Environmental Program. "We were overwhelmed by the tremendous response we received, and would like to thank the hundreds of journalists who entered their stories for participating."

Winning stories include: a compelling account from Pakistan of how a small coastal community is responding to the multiple challenges that climate change is already posing them; a multi-media investigation on the use and effects of fire in the Amazon; and a business report from East Africa on how Kenyan companies are missing out on the growing global carbon credits market.  They were chosen through a process involving a globe-spanning, independent jury that involved over 100 media and climate change experts.

"As a member of the Earth Journalism Awards' international jury, it is a pleasure to see the depth of coverage from around the world for this important subject," says Nadia El Awady, President of the World Federation of Science Journalists. "We need to support these journalists however we can in their efforts to inform the public and policy-makers, and this awards program is a wonderful way to give them both practical support and more recognition."

Internews is inviting the winners of the Earth Journalism Awards to cover the negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, (COP15) December 7-18. There they will receive support from Internews to report on the negotiations to their media organizations back home.  They will also attend a high profile awards ceremony, to be co-hosted by Nobel Peace Prize Winner Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, at the Danish Radio Hall on December 14, the eve of the final high-level negotiations.  Each of the fifteen winners will receive one of the coveted regional or thematic awards as determined by the independent juries.

The fifteen winning stories are available online, and the public now has the opportunity to vote on the Awards website, Twitter, and Facebook for the Global Public Prize - the one story or series that they think should have the attention of the negotiators in the closing days of the negotiations.

"Through an array of social web technologies such as the Twitter and Facebook APIs, we will be counting the votes for specific stories and tracking which issues resonate most strongly with the public as the world looks towards Copenhagen." says Jun Matsushita, Head of Technology for the Awards.  "We are keen to see just how the power of online social networking can be used to generate interest and debate around the 15 winning stories as the negotiations enter the final stages."

The Earth Journalism Awards is being implemented by Internews in association with partners that include the Government of Denmark, hosts of the negotiations; The World Bank; MTV International, the leading global broadcaster and youth brand; The Government of Italy, The V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation and the Edgerton Family Fund; Flip Video Spotlight; the Open Society Network, WWF International, The Global Canopy Programme, the Tcktcktck campaign, part of the GCCA, the international alliance of campaigning NGOs that includes Oxfam, WWF,  and Greenpeace, IMS and Global Forum for Media Development.

Press Contacts:   
Mark Harvey, Internews Europe +44 7703 180 524  
(mharvey@internews.fr)

James Fahn, Earth Journalism Network, Internews Network  +668 1960 7673 (jfahn@internews.org)

John Boit, Internews Network +1 202 468 9413,
(jboit@melwoodglobal.com)

Editors Notes:

The Award categories include:  Seven Regional Awards covering current affairs and news reporting on climate change for: Eurasia, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, and North America, Europe & Australia; and Eight Thematic Awards: The Climate Change and Nature Award, the Negotiations Award and the Climate Diplomacy Prize , The Human Voices   Award, The Energy Award, The Forests Award, The Climate Change Adaptation Award, MTV Positive Change Award and, a 16th Award, the Global Public Award as voted online on the Earth Journalism Awards website,  Facebook and Twitter via a global social marketing web campaign.