Article about Alliance work wins Guardian journalism competition
24 November 2008
The Guardian International Development Journalism competition has culminated in the announcement of Sylvia Rowley as the overall winner in the amateur journalist category, writing about the Alliance’s work in India.
At a prestigious event at the Royal Society of Arts in London on 20th November Sylvia beat hundreds of entrants to write a winning article on the Alliance’s focused HIV prevention work with men who have sex with men. Her trip to India was hosted and organised by Alliance for AIDS Action in Andhra Pradesh.
Sylvia’s front-page article appeared in a special supplement in Saturday’s Guardian newspaper (22nd November).
“For me the most memorable moments of the experience were the opportunities to meet and talk to people and hear their stories. They were so inspiring. It really encouraged me about what is being done to tackle HIV.I was really very impressed by the Alliance’s work,” said Sylvia.
“This has given me so much to think about. In the UK we don’t really talk about HIV very much and before I went on the trip I hadn’t really discussed it, particularly in direct relation to people’s lives, only about the vast statistics… It made me think a lot about the importance of being frank about HIV and sex, of educating people about it and stopping the embarrassment that we seem to feel about it.”
Annie Kelly is a professional journalist who regularly writes for The Guardian. As a finalist in the professional journalist category she visited Alliance projects in Zambia and Uganda, looking at communities’ responses to the HIV epidemic. Her article will also be published in the Guardian on Monday 24th November.
Annie commented, “Seeing the role of the volunteer treatment support workers and network support agents in both Uganda and Zambia being a vital bridge between frontline health services and the communities, highlighted that if you didn’t have that bridge then there was no way anything was going to change.
“HIV is now something I hope to do a lot more journalism about because I think it’s so important and it says so much about how we approach development.”
Alvaro Bermejo, Executive Director of the Alliance said, “We are delighted to have been involved in this innovative competition with the Guardian, DFID and GSK. I would like to thank our members for Alliance for AIDS Action, Alliance Uganda and Alliance Zambia who made both Sylvia and Annie’s trips possible. Their hard work is critical to reaching the marginalised communities profiled in the articles.”
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State at the Department for International Development, one of the sponsors of the project concluded, "I was delighted by the high calibre of the entries and congratulate both overall winners on their outstanding contributions. Informed and balanced journalism plays a crucial role in raising the profile of international development. I am sure this competition has inspired the entrants and other UK journalists to write more about the issues surrounding global poverty.”
The project partners include: The Guardian, Department for International Development, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Marie Stopes International, Camfed International, HelpAge International, Malaria Consortium, Plan UK, Sightsavers International and WaterAid.
