"real21": New media fund and media prize

The fund supports and promotes journalistic reporting in German-speaking Swiss media on global development issues. Two media prizes (a main prize of 10,000 Swiss francs and a promotional prize of 5,000 Swiss francs) are awarded annually for high-quality media contributions on these topics.

Reporting on developments in distant countries suffers particularly from cost pressure, according to the press release. Events in Africa, Asia, Latin America or Eastern Europe usually only receive attention when they involve disasters, conflicts or wars. The Media Fund and Media Award supports and promotes journalists of all media genres who go in search of stories behind the headlines. The fund makes financial contributions in particular to research and travel costs up to a maximum of 10,000 Swiss francs.

Maz and Alliance Sud have jointly founded the association "real21 - understanding the world". It is chaired by Maz Director Diego Yanez and financed by contributions from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The board also includes Daniel Hitzig (Alliance Sud) and the freelance journalist Markus Mugglin. The secretariat of the association is located at Maz in Lucerne.

Two juries of experts with different compositions decide on the awarding of the funds and the prizes. The two sponsoring organizations are represented, but do not make up the majority. The SDC sits on the jury for the media prizes, but has no influence on the projects supported by the Media Fund. The first call for entries for the Media Fund will run from the end of August to the end of October 2015, after which the jury will select the first projects worthy of support. The media prizes will be awarded for the first time in fall 2016.

Further information is available on the newly launched website Real21.ch can be found on the website. Among other things, it provides information on the composition of the two juries and contains the application forms for the grant applications.