ASEAN Youth Social Journalism Contest 2019 (Fully-funded to the workshop in Brunei Darussalam)

Deadline: June 30, 2019

Are you an aspiring journalist in the ASEAN region? If so, join the ASEAN Youth Social Journalism Contest 2019! Selected participants will get the chance to join a four-day social journalism workshop in Brunei Darussalam on September 2019 and stand the chance to win other interesting prizes!

Form a team of two consisting of members of the same nationality and submit an essay with a theme that explores the importance of responsive and transparent government in your day-to-day lives, promoting the ideals of fairness, equity and transparency in your communities at the ASEAN regional level.

The ASEAN Youth Social Journalism Contest 2019 is inviting youth “Social Journalists” to submit an essay describing a theme that explores the importance of responsive and transparent government in their day-to-day lives, promoting the ideals of fairness, equity, and transparency in their communities and at the ASEAN regional level”. Talented ASEAN youth are invited to share and promote fact-based and compelling messages showcasing the importance of reliable and transparent governance in ASEAN and its Member States through media platforms.

Based on their essay submissions, up to 20 youth will be competitively selected to participate in a workshop where they will develop and implement a social awareness activity in their respective countries.A “Social Journalist” is a member of the general public who is interested making a positive contribution to his/her community by collecting and disseminating and/or publishing news and information based upon his/her observations, research, or through other means. Through this initiative, we invite active young social journalists to produce and publish a content related to the above theme and its impact on youth.

This contest is supported by the ASEAN Foundation and the ASEAN-USAID PROSPECT, a joint project of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. State Department. Additional support is being provided by the Scoop, a multimedia platform for news, commentary, culture, and life in Brunei Darussalam.

Eligibility

• Any existing or aspiring social journalist that holds an ASEAN member country passport (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and resides in the country of citizenship. Note: professional journalists who are full-time employees of established media outlets are not eligible to compete).
• Applicants must be between 18 and 30 years of age on 30 June 2019.
• Selected finalists must have a valid passport allowing them to travel to Brunei Darussalam and must be able to communicate fluently in both spoken and written English.
• Selected finalists must have active Facebook and Gmail accounts for ease of communication with the trainer and other participants.

Criteria

A selected panel of judges will evaluate your essay submission. The selection criteria are outlined below:

• Clarity of ideas: The essay clearly demonstrates an understanding of the theme and why it is important to youth in ASEAN Community.
• Creativity: The essay is written in a creative and compelling way with a thoughtful approach from youth perspective.
• Potential reader impact: The essay conveys personal or aspirational thoughts that are inspiring to viewers.

Following the evaluation process, the 20 finalists (two from each ASEAN Member State) will be selected to participate in a social journalism workshop in Brunei Darussalam in September 2019.

Application

1. Write an INDIVIDUAL essay on the selected theme described above, explaining the theme, why it is important for youth in ASEAN, how it is relevant in your own life. Essays must contain a maximum of 600 words, use 12-point Times New Roman font and be double spaced.
2. In a separate document, list any supporting references to existing publications or sources that support the information in the essay. Such references can be in any format, such as text, photos, infographics and audio/video. This document will be uploaded as part of the application package.
3. Complete the application form bit.ly/AYSJ2019 and upload the two attachments: 1) essay and 2) supporting references.

Click here to apply.

For more information, visit ASEAN Youth Social Journalism Contest.