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“Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals” Journalism Award

The articles arrived from 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina (47), Bolivia (5), Brazil (52), Chile (4), Colombia (34), Costa Rica (10), Cuba (15), Ecuador (15), El Salvador (1), Guatemala (20), Honduras (11), Mexico (83), Nicaragua (2), Panama (41), Paraguay (5), Peru (22), Netherlands Antilles (4), Uruguay (29) and Venezuela (66).

The stories entered were published in Spanish, English and Portuguese in print media from the region between October 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007. The three best stories will receive prizes of US$5,000, US$2,500 and US$1,000 respectively, and the five best will be included in a book that will be published after the decision is issued.

The jury is made up of the Mexican writer Carlos Monsiváis; Cuban author Leonardo Padura; the president of the Foundation for Free Press of Colombia, María Teresa Ronderos; the CEO of IPS Mario Lubetkin; and the regional director of the UNDP for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rebeca Grynspan. The jury will evaluate the work and announce its decision before October 1, 2007.

The Latin America and MDG 2007 Journalism Award seeks to encourage regional media, including some of the most influential newspapers, to spread the word about the challenges associated with accomplishing the MDGs, which include halving poverty by 2015.

The eight goals were adopted in 2000 during the United Nations Millennium Summit by the heads of government of 189 countries, to eradicate poverty around the world. This year is the midway point in the timeline, whose completion date was set at 2015.

Achieving the goals requires that media reporting "be more transparent and provide better information so that the public can demand that their governments keep the commitments they have made," said Rebeca Grynspan, UNDP regional director for Latin America.