World Vision and First Lady present the 4th Journalism Award for Children

-On the occasion of Child Abuse Prevention Month, the NGO recognizes journalistic stories that denounce situations that violate children's rights.

Wednesday, April 26, 2022. Santo Domingo, D.R.- The international organization World Vision Dominican Republic together with the first lady and president of the Cabinet of Children and Adolescents, Raquel Arbaje, presented the 4th World Vision Award: Journalism for Children, which recognizes the work of journalists who promote the journalism of solutions, to educate and sensitize the population on key issues that contribute to the denunciation of situations that affect children and adolescents, and encourage the guarantee of their rights, with the role of stimulating the journalism of solutions on this issue.

This award was headed by the Country Representative, Elicaury Bautista Bidó and Mischelle Mitchell, regional director of external engagement, communications and advocacy of World Vision, respectively. Members of the Advisory Council, opinion leaders, and representatives of Grupo Ramos and Banco BHD, official sponsors of this edition.

The award distinguishes three categories with the best reports in: Print, Television and Digital Media, where all works published from February 28, 2022, to February 10, 2023, participated, with a three-week extension granted.

The winning stories achieved the highest score according to the criteria of the award's rules and its guidelines, which included issues that violate the rights of children in the country, mainly in media of great reach and national and international dissemination, as well as positioning the relevance of promoting respect for the rights of the most vulnerable children.

The award had a high-level evaluation committee, such as: Nelson Rodríguez, director of El Caribe newspaper and opinion leader; Luisa Ysabel Ovando, president of the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONANI); Aurelio Henríquez, president of the Dominican College of Journalists (CDP); Divina García Vásquez, in charge of the Family Orientation and Support Unit of the Ministry of Education's Community Participation Directorate; and Edith Febles, opinion leader and director of the television program El Día and La Cosa Como es.

"One of the greatest contributions of responsible journalism professionals is to serve as a catalyst for raising public awareness of the situations that affect children, particularly the most vulnerable; generating added value by contributing to raising social awareness to lead to concrete actions on the different problems affecting children. In a country where development indicators in education, teenage pregnancy prevention and child protection reflect important opportunities, it is necessary to amplify the voice of the weakest, making vulnerabilities visible, not to generate news, but to promote the call to action and achieve the commitment of different sectors in the search for sustainable solutions," said Elicaury Bautista Bidó, Country Representative during his speech.

On the other hand, Mischelle Mitchell emphasized that "At World Vision, we believe that the press is more than a mirror to reflect the social reality of countries. We believe that it is a powerful vector to educate, guide and promote transformations. How? We aspire that you, the journalists, be allies in the courageous and frontal denunciation of all forms of violence against children, regardless of who perpetrates it. We aspire you to be zealous prosecutors in the fulfilment of the task of protection to which institutions and individuals are called. And, above all, we aspire them to be a showcase for the success stories that children write when they have access to quality education, health and full compliance with their rights".

Finally, the First Lady, Raquel Arbaje, in her keynote speech, emphasized that the positive thing about these works is that they do not beat around the bush: ''They present the personal and social effects of problems that society refuses to see because, in general, it is understood that by closing our eyes we are relieving ourselves of responsibility. This is not the case. Critical journalism, of which the awarded works are an example, is committed to putting on the social table the problems that afflict us so that, together, we can look for solutions in a conscious and effective way", said the First Lady.

WINNERS

The winners of the 4th Journalism Award were: 1) Print Media: Karla Alcantara, from El Dinero newspaper with the report ''Embarazo en adolescentes, más allá de las razones económicas''; 2) Television Media: Nairobi Viloria, from Noticias SIN, with the report ''Ingesta accidental de productos cáusticos en niños de República Dominicana'' and 3) Digital Media: Luisanna Carrasco, with the report, ''Del sexting a la pornografía infantil''. Each category was awarded a cash prize of RD$70,000 in checks.