Deadline: 31 July 2011
Open to : Young creators of digital contests
Award: Awards available
YOUNG PEOPLE USING INTERNET AND MOBILES for Social Good
The WSYA is an annual award and a network for young people using the internet, mobile phones or other digital media to put the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) into action. The MDGs were set in 2000 by the UN to prompt member states and civil society to fight poverty, hunger and disease, inequalities, lack of education and environmental degradation.
WSYA is therefore both a showcase to the world for young e-content creators, journalists and writers, application designers, technologists and as well as a contribution on a global scale to adressing poverty, protecting the environment, sharing knowledge and empowering young people.
The MDGs provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions. The eight goals were adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015. Progress towards the goals can be measured using 60 indicators. People around the world work towards making development benefital for everyone by adhering to the MDGs. They work to:
1 – Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2 – Achieve universal primary education
3 – Promote gender equality and empower women
4 – Reduce child mortality
5 – Improve maternal health
6 – Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7 – Ensure environmental sustainability
8 – Develop a Global Partnership for Development
Young creators of digital contests can register their products themselves. An international young expert jury will then judge the products and decide on who will be a winner in each of the six WSYA categories.
Award
The Youth Award is not a cash award. The reward for winners is to be recognized on a world stage, to be invited to the winners’ events, to be able to connect with each other and discuss with renowned experts in the field of ICT for Development. Last years winner’s events took place in New York, USA.
Application
E-Contents and ICT applications may be submitted in the following six categories, each of which will have three winners who will be presented most probably at the World Summit Youth Award WINNERS EVENTS , which take place in a different country each year..
The following six categories are tied directly to the eight UN MDGs. “Pursue Truth!” was introduced as a new category in 2010:
1. Fight Poverty, Hunger and Disease!
Rewards the most effective content and applications addressing issues of extreme poverty and hunger, offering solutions for those whose income is less than $ 1 a day, supporting the reduction of diseases and fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS and the incidents of malaria.
2. Education for All!
Gives credit to the most innovative content, platforms and solutions to give children everywhere, boys and girls alike, a full course of primary schooling, to advance their training for personal development and jobs, and to achieve a high level of understanding and knowledge of the global information society and its problems, promises, challenges and opportunities.
3. Power 2 Women!
Demonstrates the most inspiring content and communities which promote gender equality and empower women, eliminate gender disparity in education and at work places, facilitate access of women to all levels of political decision making and that strengthen women’s contribution to peaceful resolution of conflicts.
4. Create your Culture!
Celebrates the most engaging online platforms and applications expressing young people’s aspirations, ideas and values, sharing their news, enabling their participation in decision-making processes, strengthening social justice, promoting the knowledge of many languages and cultures, supporting multilingualism, creating new contemporary forms of culture and preserving indigenous knowledge and traditions.
5. Go Green!
Showcases the ground-breaking applications and content addressing the natural environment, promoting environmental sustainability, integrating the principles of environmentally sustainable development into country policies and programmes, reversing the loss of environmental resources including biodiversity, reducing the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and improving the lives of slum dwellers.
6. Pursue Truth!
Focuses on journalism using Internet and Mobiles to cover the MDGs and to report on issues related to them and their realization or failure to be realized; addresses content excellence in terms of a fair, accurate, contextual pursuit of truth and the success in publishing the content using digital, interactive media platforms; invites young journalists and citizens to share their news and become active participants in the public interest of their community and country.
Please register your project HERE:
In the first step, you will need to fill in the following:
- Personal Data
- Product / Project Data
You will then receive an email with your product ID, password and link to complete your online registration.
As soon as you have submitted the form, a release form will be send to you via email, which you are supposed to return to the contest office via email or fax.
Deadline for applying is 31 July 2011.
Please note registrations is at the moment only possible with Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher.
