UNFPA-Laadli media awards for reporting

Population First, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Chennai-based The Catalyst Trust today announced the first UNFPA-Laadli Media awards for gender sensitivity for the southern region and invited media to send in their entries.

Four regional awards will culminate in a national award by the end of the year.

News coverage on TV or in the print media, articles, print or TV ads and jingles which highlight the value of the girl child, challenge the dominant stereotypes and analyse developments from a gender perspective will be eligible to participate. The last date for sending in entries is March 5, 2008. The awards will be given away on March 28 in Chennai at the Music Academy.

Laadli is a girl child campaign by Population First, a Mumbai-based NGO working on health, population and women's issues.

According to experts, the need for an award also for the south is considered necessary as, despite the region's human development record, it is not exemplar to the rest of the country in the matter of protection of the girl child.

In South India, the gender imbalance per 1,000 males is as skewed as 964 women in Andhra Pradesh, 963 in Kerala, 939 in Tamil Nadu, 949 in Karnataka and 958 in Puducherry, according to a press release from Population First stated.