The UNESCO-led GAPMIL (Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy) is calling for nominations for the GAPMIL Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Awards 2019. The Awards will recognize significant work and contributions in the field of MIL, and will honour individuals or organizations who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in integrating MIL into their activities and practice on a local or global level.
Work in any area or sector can be recognized, as long as the activities reflect integration of MIL concepts in education, research, policy, advocacy, and in the communication, information, and technology industries (including cultural industries).
Deadline:
Deadline for submissions: 27 August 2019. Nominations should be submitted here.
More details about the Awards are available on the Global MIL Week 2019 website.
Contribution to Media and Information Literate Citizens
Global MIL Week 2019 will continue to focus on the cities and citizens in the digital age following the 2018 edition. MIL provides citizens with key competencies for life-long learning, work, and in all aspects of life. Citizens equipped with MIL competencies are informed, engaged and empowered. When intercultural and inter-religious dialogue is promoted through free, independent and pluralistic media and information systems, the awareness of diversities can enrich our notion of the world around us, and improve our understanding of others and ourselves. Empowering citizens, in particular youth, the elderly and marginalized groups with MIL competencies lets more voices be heard, and thus enables digital inclusion and enhanced opportunities.
What is the role of each actor in society, while MIL is becoming increasingly important today? How can policymakers, teachers, students, librarians, public servants, private sector actors, and others, help to build a more inclusive and equal society through MIL development? Utilizing the interconnectedness that exists between sectors, and embracing collaborative efforts, will help to realize the goal of “MIL for all”.
In relation to the theme of this year’s Global MIL Week, the GAPMIL Awards 2019 will reward exemplary projects, activities or achievements that use MIL as an empowering tool to counter disinformation, hate speech, radicalization and extremist content online and offline, and enable critical thinking, tolerance, intercultural dialogue, inclusion, social cohesion and human rights. Please see details of the awards categories here.
Awards ceremony in Sweden
As per tradition, the GAPMIL Global MIL Awards 2019 will be presented during the Global MIL Week 2019 Feature Conference, the Ninth MIL and Intercultural Dialogue (MILID) Conference, to be held from 24 to 25 September, in Gothenburg (Sweden). The awards winners will be invited to the event or connected to the event via remote participation if they cannot attend.
History of the Awards and winners
The GAPMIL Global MIL Awards were established and awarded for the first time in 2015 during the Feature Conference of the fourth Global MIL Week held in Philadelphia, USA. Last year’s winners can be found here. Please see the list of winners of the four previous editions on the GAPMIL website.
About GAPMIL
The GAPMIL is a groundbreaking effort initiated by UNESCO and partners to promote international cooperation to ensure that all citizens have access to MIL competencies. It currently has over 400 member organizations from over 110 countries. This pioneering initiative was launched during the Global Forum for Partnerships on MIL that took place from 26 to 28 June 2013.
Contact: Alton Grizzle, a.grizzle@unesco.org, Xu Jing, ji.xu@unesco.org.
