Youth Media Guyana (YMG), a local youth group on Thursday received one of five United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) ‘Traces Communication Award’ for the Latin American and Caribbean region for best innovation.
According to a press release from the body, the award is in recognition of the “excellent work done in the production of their 11 minute Youth News Bulletin, which was submitted in the category of best innovation”.
Explaining the basis on which the award was given, UNICEF Communications Officer, Leslyn Thompson said that at a recently concluded meeting of the body’s Communications Officers in Panama, for Latin America and the Caribbean, UNICEF Guyana was awarded the prize for the best major innovation.
She was quoted as stating that “in a dramatically changing communications landscape, UNICEF efforts at innovation are keen (on) the positioning of our messaging, so we are always seeking creative and innovative ways of promoting messages for children’s development. This award was based on the impact of a new, innovative idea, which others can learn from and replicate in other country offices”.
The release noted that YMG was officially launched in May last year through the collaborative efforts of the National Communications Network (NCN), the National Commission on the Rights of the Child and UNICEF, with the aim of empowering young people and providing an avenue to help them advocate for their rights. The 11 Minutes Youth News is a monthly television newscast for young people by young people and presents current social, economic and political themes from a youth perspective.
Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative for Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, Johannes Wedenig stated that the award was given to highlight a new innovative idea and was evaluated on the basis of its impact. He noted that it does not take highly trained academics and skilled persons to execute what the youths had done and noted that it is something that is possible to easily implement elsewhere.
