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European blogging competition 2010
Spread the Word
 Be
it on European policy or Asian cuisine, blog writing style is frequently off-putting
for journalists as it gradually undermines long held journalism notions. But snappy
blog texts are a growing trend. And when well-told stories are written, they have
the power of radically changing point of views and bringing awareness. Focused
on that, a European Journalism Centre (EJC) initiative is bringing together
nearly 100 journalists, journalism students and experts from 27 EU Member States
and beyond to write about the Millennium Development Goals. In its third edition,
"TH!NK ABOUT IT" is bound to roar to life
By LUAN GALANI (luan.galani@wavemagazine.net)
from
Curitiba, BRAZIL
The five months competition is going to
focus on the Millennium
Development Goals in the lead up to the UN's high-level plenary meeting
in September. Some 100 selected participants will cover the biggest issues
in sustainable development, such as water, food, health, housing, education,
tourism, business, cooperation and more.
A kick-off event will be held
in Brussels, Belgium, at the end of March. In August, at the final of the
competition, TH!NK will offer the project's top bloggers the chance to
cover the issues from the field via reporting expeditions to Asia, Africa and
New York City.
More then halfway to the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have
begun to slow. It is a clear result of the global economic and food crises, as
a report by the United Nations has found. Despite many successes, overall progress
has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015. That is why hopes
are high for round three: it may pile more pressure on it.
The
last rounds
The
first edition of TH!NK gravitated towards 2009 European Parliamentary
Elections. There are still some thought-provoking local analyses and it is
really worth having a look-see.
At its second round, climate change was
under the spotlight. Diego Casaes, a Brazilian who writes for Global
Voices Online and took part in round 2, told WAVE magazine that
he got motivated because he had never seen such a massive international collective
blog action on an important issue. "I strongly believe we (bloggers) hit
the nail on the head: we moved people about local problems."
The
conversation levels were of a high standard and always brought to surface social
and cultural sides, besides that of politics. Here is a post example extract from
Lara
Smallman, which takes ordinary reading of food labels to a new level.
"And no, I'm not picking on PRET,
they are actually one of the good guys. But this wasn't the first time that their
green credentials have been called into question. Only a month ago they were found
to have been importing their 'fresh'
sushi 7,000 miles from Chile. They try so hard with some products and
yet, fall flat on their faces with others. But why? And why weren't consumers,
who were certainly paying the price for supposedly greener food, making a stink
about it?"
Diego thinks the next round will be phenomenal. "At
every new round, EJC provides new experiences and makes better challenges",
he says. "If I do not get to be part of the crew, even so I will not miss
a post".
Still concerning the third edition, in all likelihood people
will be riveted to the stories. Be from Brazil, Japan or Romania, it is easy
to see how so culturally different people manage to work successfully on a theme
on the net. The shared sense of being on the same boat is mighty and can be
rightfully absorbing and transforming. At least saying, it has to be believed.
(Published:
10.03.2010.)
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