(PINA/IFEX) – The following is a 27 July 2000 PINA press release on the 2000 International Green Pen Awards: Four International Green Pen Awards presented at Nadi congress Nadi, Fiji Islands (PINA Nius Online, 27 July 2000) – Two Pacific Islands editors and two people who helped develop environmental journalism in the Asia-Pacific region received […]
(PINA/IFEX) – The following is a 27 July 2000 PINA press release on the 2000 International Green Pen Awards:
Four International Green Pen Awards presented at Nadi congress
Nadi, Fiji Islands (PINA Nius Online, 27 July 2000) – Two Pacific Islands editors and two people who helped develop environmental journalism in the Asia-Pacific region received International Green Pen Awards at Nadi yesterday.
France’s ambassador, Mr Jean-Pierre Vidon, presented the awards during ceremonies at the joint Asia-Pacific and Commonwealth environmental journalism congress at the Fiji Mocambo Hotel. The joint congress of the Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists (APFEJ) and Commonwealth Environmental Journalists Association (CEJA) is organised by the Pacific Islands News Association’s PINA Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists.
“The International Green Pen Awards are to honour those who have made great contributions to environmental journalism,” said Nina Ratulele, general secretary of PINA Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists.
Honoured at Nadi were:
Mrs Anna Solomon, editor-in-chief of Papua New Guinea’s Word Publishing newspaper group, Port Moresby.
Mrs Solomon is honoured for the investigative reporting she has inspired and supported. Her newspapers have been at the forefront of investigative environmental journalism that has been conducted despite threats and efforts to stop it. This reporting has contributed to changes in policies and laws on forestry and protection of the environment.
Mr Yohei Sasakawa, president of the Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund, Tokyo.
Mr Sasakawa was honoured for initiating, supporting and promoting over many years the highly successful and effective environmental journalism exchange programme between Japan’s islands and the Pacific Islands. This is run by SPINF in conjunction with PINA. It has also included bringing leading Pacific Islands environmental journalists to speak at influential Japanese seminars. This was to help build understanding in Japan of the impact of climate change on the Pacific Islands.
Mr Giff Johnson, editor of the Marshall Islands Journal, Majuro.
Mr Johnson is honoured for working constantly to strip away the secrecy that surrounded the American atmospheric bomb tests in the Marshall Islands and their impact on the islands and people of the Marshall Islands. He has played the key role in building both local and international awareness of the impact of the American testing.
Mr Adlai Amor, media director of the World Resources Institute, Washington, and former chairperson of APFEJ.
Mr Amor, a Filipino, is honoured for dedicating his life to the development of good environmental journalism in the Asia-Pacific region. He has worked unstintingly to develop excellence in environmental journalism, as a journalist, as a trainer and as a media organisation leader. Workshops he conducted in the Pacific Islands for PINA led to the formation of the PINA Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists.
Environmental journalists from PINA members in eleven Pacific Islands countries have joined colleagues from around the world in participating in the Nadi congress.
