Elizabeth O’Neill Journalism Award
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australia-Indonesia Institute invite applications by 26 September 2008 for the Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award. The Award is open to high achieving early or mid-career journalists.
Background
The Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award commemorates the distinguished career of Elizabeth O’Neill who died in service of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Indonesia on 7 March 2007. The Award builds on her tireless work to foster mutual understanding of Australia and Indonesia through accurate and informed media coverage.
The Elizabeth O'Neill Journalism Award will involve one journalist from Indonesia and Australia each year. The Award is open to journalists from print, radio, television and online media organisations.
The Award will cover:
- economy class international airfares and domestic transfers from the participant’s home city
- accommodation, internal transport, visas and meal allowances
The award will not cover the cost of travel for dependents or translators. Successful applicants will be responsible for having an up-to-date passport.
Nomination
The successful applicant will be selected from nominations received from individual journalists and media organisations. Applicants must be Australian citizens resident in Australia.
Nominations should include the following information:
- Name, position and biographical details
- Media organisation
- Influence and reach of organisation (including estimated circulation/audience)
- Sponsor assessment of nominee (track record, influence, capacity to meet program objectives)
- Fluency in English/Indonesian
- A short statement (500 words) outlining main areas of interest, key objectives and relevance to Award criteria
Nominations should be emailed to oneill.award@dfat.gov.au by COB Friday 26 September 2008.
A selection panel in Canberra will choose the successful participant. The panel will comprise representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian media. The successful applicant will be announced in mid-October 2008.
The successful applicant must be available to travel between November 2008 and February 2009.
Program
The Award recipient will spend up to three weeks in Indonesia on a fully funded program to build a stronger understanding and appreciation of the broad range of issues facing contemporary Indonesia and Australia. The program will be tailored to the journalist’s area of expertise and reporting responsibilities in such areas as foreign and trade policy, development assistance, people-to-people links and education.
Meetings may include:
- local media organisations (television and radio stations, newspapers etc), both commercial and government owned;
- a reciprocal visit to the employer of the host country participant ;
- academic institutions, including those with specialist journalism and communications courses;
- media industry regulators; and
- access to ministers (where possible), and government officials.
Participants are encouraged to act as international correspondents for their home agency and to file stories during their participation in the program.
Evaluation
On completion of the Award program, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will meet with participants to evaluate the program outcomes.
Participants will also be required to provide a short report outlining:
- what the participant gained from the program;
- how the participant’s views were changed by the program; and
- suggestions for improving the program.