As India moves on a path of rapid economic growth, environmental degradation is becoming severe. To take up and walk on the path of sustainable development, awareness and knowledge about the state of the environment and sustainable solutions are key. Media has a crucial role to play in sensitising people to environmental concerns and raise public awareness by providing environment-related information and analysis. Accurate, critical and profound media coverage of environmental topics and concerns can thus contribute to a changing society by making the public conscious of their daily activities and promoting the adoption of a sustainable lifestyle.

To encourage improved media coverage of environmental issues, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), the Asian College of Journalism, ICLEI South Asia, The Third Pole and the Deutsche Welle Akademie are organising a competition for journalists reporting on environmental issues in India, in cooperation with IFAT India Fair and under the patronage of the German Embassy. By acknowledging and awarding good journalistic reports, the competition aims to inspire journalists to take up a wider range of topics with regards to the environment as a part of their work and highlight solutions and positive stories.

The entries should deal with urban and industrial issues of environmental protection and management. Entries related to water and climate change – and presenting positive examples, possibilities and solutions – are encouraged. All entries must be clearly associated to India, though they can be written from anywhere in the world.  

Also this year, in an effort to bring the river Ganga back to its pristine glory, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, New Delhi, will award a special "Clean Ganga Award", which carries One Lakh Rupees plus a trip to Germany, for the best journalistic entry on the rejuvenation of the Ganges. 

More things to keep in mind regarding the competition:

• The competition will award articles, reports, documentaries as well as photos and films that have been published between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014 in one of these media channels: print, television, radio, internet or photography. 
• The entries should deal with urban and industrial issues of environmental protection and management; entries related to water and climate change – and presenting positive examples, possibilities and solutions – are encouraged. 
• All entries must be clearly associated to India, but they can be written from anywhere in the world. 
• The deadline for submitting entries is August 15, 2014. 
• The awards will be presented at the IFAT India Fair – India’s leading trade fair for water, sewage, refuse and recycling in Mumbai onOctober 9, 2014.
• The first prize in each category is ₹ 50,000 and the second prize ₹ 30,000.

Contribute to spreading environmental knowledge and submit your work!

Download the pdf of the Call for entries for All India Environmental Journalism Competition 2014

For further information and to submit your entries, visit: http://www.igep.in/e48093/e59184/