Al Jazeera English wins FPA awards
Wins for Earthrise and Cure and Foreign Press Association Awards.
Doha, 20 November 2013: The Foreign Press Association has recognised Al Jazeera English for its innovative health and environment programmes at its annual media awards ceremony in London yesterday.
Commenting on the win, Al Anstey, Managing Director of Al Jazeera; “Al Jazeera English has consistently provided a refreshing approach to reporting in health and environment issues. We are proud to be recognised for this for the second year.”
Both programmes are produced by the same Al Jazeera English team based in the UK. Series editor Neil Cairns commented, “Rather than just report on the problems, both series provide an upbeat style, highlighting the innovative work in the areas of health and environment”.
Earthrise was recognised for the second year running for its solutions-focused approach to environmental journalism. The piece Urban Oil Men was awarded ‘Environment Story of the Year’ by the Association, which noted that it was ‘an optimistic and unexpected piece, illustrating the human urge for entrepreneurship.’
In the piece, Reporter Russell Beard joins workers from Grease Lightning, one of over 30 companies in New York now collecting used cooking oil from restaurants to turn into clean burning bio-diesel. The idea is not new, but the commercial scale of today’s operations means it stands out as a prime example of the growing green economy, and a remaking – or perhaps a recycling – of the American Dream.
Urban Oil Men is one of the many topics in the series, exploring ecological, scientific and technological solutions to the environmental challenges we face today.
The Cure is Al Jazeera English’s new health series showcasing innovations in world health, from cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs to advances in affordable healthcare. Winning ‘Science Story of the Year’ was their episode Doctors on Everest, which covered the ground-breaking research into the impact of oxygen deprivation on critically ill patients taking place in the foothills of Mount Everest, with the judges noting the cinematography was ‘beautiful’.
Both award-winning series are now available online:
- Earthrise: http://aje.me/12DwGNH
- The Cure: http://aje.me/14HX2mr