“Let’s Talk About Drugs” Media Awards 2011 Announced

Organised by the Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs (GBRD), these awards are aimed at primary and secondary school students, college students and aspiring members of the media, to stimulate debate around the drugs issue in Irish communities.

This is the fifth “Let’s Talk About Drugs” Media Awards, which were created to encourage the journalists and reporters of tomorrow to start writing and talking about the drugs issue in Ireland today. For 2011, new broadcast categories have been added and new media partners and sponsors have come on board.

There are no entry fees and the four media categories are:

• Newspaper Article
  Entrants have to research and write an original newspaper article around an official theme (between 400 and 800 words in Microsoft Word or Google Docs)
• Cartoon Strip
  Entrants have to create an original cartoon strip around an official theme, using freehand drawing or computer aided design (between 4 and 12 panels in pdf, jpeg or hardcopy)
• Audio Feature
  Entrants have to research and record an original audio feature around an official theme (between 3 and 5 minutes in length as an MP3 file)
• Video/Animated Feature
  Entrants have to research and film/animate an original short video, with sound, around an official theme (between 1 and 5 minutes in length in QuickTime or AVI)

Official Themes for 2011:

Theme 1: Prescription Drugs – problem or solution?

Theme 2: Alcohol – is cost the only price?

Theme 3: Drug Rehabilitation – recovery is possible?

Prizes:

As part of their prize, the winners’ work will be published or broadcast and they’ll also receive a netbook computer. In addition to the category winner prizes, the G.B.R.D will also be presenting the annual ‘GBRD Endeavour Awards’ to an individual and a school.

Age Categories:

Each media category has four age categories

Age 12 – 14

Age 15 – 17

Age 18 – 20

21+ and over

Important Dates:

Launch: w/c January 10^th 2011

Closing Date: 5pm on March 16^th 2011 (day before St. Patrick’s Day)

Judging: Late March 2011

Awards Ceremony & Announcement of Winners: April 11^th 2011

Official Website:www.gbrd.ie (details will go live on Monday, January 10^th)

The Judging Panel will includerepresentatives from the organisers, media partners and funding agencies.

Top Tips:

Download an entry form from www.gbrd.ie and send it with your entry (the judges can’t accept an entry, without a fully completed entry form!)

The Judges won’t accept any entries that contain commercial messages or that aren’t original.

If you’re quoting a piece of research, don’t forget to include the source with your notes.

For the newspaper article category, have a look at last year’s winners on www.gbrd.ie, to get an idea of what the judges are looking for.

Media Partners:

Dublin People Group (for Newspaper Article and Cartoon Strip Categories)

City Channel TV (for Video Feature Category)

Phoenix FM Radio (for Audio Feature Category)

Sponsors:

County Dublin V.E.C

H.S.E. / Drugs.ie