Free Press Unlimited's WADADA News wins special achievement prize
WADADA News, Free Press Unlimited's ongoing press freedom project since 2004 for children and youth around the world, has won the Prize for Special Achievement in Children's Television at Prix Jeunesse International, the bi-annual 'Oscars of KidsTV' in Munich.
Ever since 2004, the WADADA News project trains and supports local partners in developing, producing and exchanging tailor made news for children or youth. This work is now acknowledged with this Special Achievement Prize, awarded to WADADA News on 15 June 2022.
The work that was done during these past two pandemic years was especially praised by the jury, because under these difficult circumstances, Free Press Unlimited supported the international partners of the collaborative WADADA network on a daily basis with trainings, materials, technical- and content advise. Besides that, new initiatives were created, such as 'My #QuarantineLife', 'Covid-19 Response in Africa', and '#MyCovidLife'.
Jan-Willem Bult, Free Press Unlimited's Head of Children, Youth & Media received the award and called three of the international WADADA News partners on stage to share the moment.
"WADADA News is a collaborative network of partners that are committed to bring news, opinions and stories from the perspective of young people in their country, no matter the circumstances. Three of our local partners were present in Munich: i-News Egypt, Paka Data Argentina, and Vientos TV México. They deserved to be in the spotlight too. Of these three programs, two are currently shut down due to discontinuity in funding and political circumstances, but these people are committed to come back as soon as the local situation changes. Because the sooner you start with letting children and youth experience press freedom and freedom of speech, the clearer it will be to them when governments or politicians want to control news and silence the people.”
“With the support of especially the Dutch Postcode Lottery we could develop news for kids in 21 countries worldwide, and generate interest by local and regional funders. But funding still remains our main challenge."
For more background information and example videos of how WADADA News is made around the world, click below: