PI/1726
4 July 2006
United Nations Video Team Wins "Best News Report", "Best Medical/Environmental Report" Awards
NEW YORK, 3 July (UN Headquarters) -- Two news programmes produced by United Nations Television (UNTV) have won honours in the CNN World Report Awards competition, a prestigious international contest organized annually by the Cable News Network (CNN) of the United States.
Winning this year's first prize in the Best News Report category was a dispatch covering rescue efforts in the wake of one of the worst natural disasters in recent history, Search for Missing in Tsunami-hit Indonesia. The tsunami tragedy was also the subject of the other winning entry from UNTV, Helping Tsunami Displaced Women, which placed second in the Best Medical or Environmental Report category. The two reports, which had been produced as part of UNTV's UN in Action television news programme, were shown on CNN World Report in April and May 2005. The CNN awards go to the best news stories in four categories, produced for CNN World Report by contributing broadcasters from around the world.
The UNTV Production Section has participated in competitions worldwide, and earned awards including the Palme d'Or from Cannes Film Festival, gold and silver awards from Germany's World Media Festival, Peabody Awards, the Golden Eagle CINE Award, the Czech Republic's Ekofilm Festival Award and even a Hollywood Oscar.
As a competitive news feature producer in the global market, the talented United Nations TV Production team makes creative use of its access to unique video footage, and its grass-roots contacts in the field. United Nations Television's main ongoing production is the award-winning UN in Action, a series of short features on the work in the field of the United Nations and UN funds, programmes and agencies.
This year's award-winning reports were produced by Michele Zaccheo, Best News Report, and Chaim Litewski, Best Medical or Environmental Report. The Executive Producer is Enrique Yeves. The videos can be accessed at www.un.org/webcast/unia.html under "UNICEF helps search for the missing in Indonesia" (UN in Action # 952) and "Tsunami displaces women in Sri Lanka" (UN in Action # 955).
For more information, please contact Caroline Petit, Promotion & Distribution Manager, at e-mail: petitc@un.org , tel: 212-963-6982, fax: 212-963-6869.
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