We aim to bring together news media and the young for the benefit of both through recognition, action and resources in ways that reinforce the role of rigorous journalism in a democracy.
Founded in 2018, we are a fully volunteer organization with nonprofit status in France and the United States.
TELL US BY 16 June ABOUT YOUR YOUTH- LOcal News Collaboration!
We are now accepting entries for the 2025 Global Youth & News Media Prize journalism award that will spotlight great successful collaborations that contribute to the survival of local news outlets.
DEADLINE 16 JUNE
And many thanks to these partners:
COMING SOON
MEDIA LITERACY AWARD • Filling key gaps in the teaching.
>> We will again recognize those who excel at the task of making sure the young learn how and why journalism is a good thing to have around and also help them become aware of the dangers and threats some people face just to do that job.
A New Core LESSON
For media literacy...
We strongly believe students should learn about the necessary role of journalists in a democracy early as part of their basic media literacy training.
To help accomplish this, we and more than two dozen other European organizations and a number of leading scholars jointly encouraged the framers of a checklist of European Media Literacy Standards to encourage such teaching.
And they did (at least a little bit) !
... and Getting started in THAT TEACHING
One way to begin to explore with youth the role of journalism in a democracy is to look at when it's blocked. Global Youth & News Media Prize educator laureate Janis Schachter explains in just over two minutes how to help students discover some of the journalists who risk all to get at truth that the powerful would rather the rest of us didn't know.
We've also created some basic activities and gathered examples of how others teach that lesson as part of our collection of resources for understanding threats to journalists.
In a related move, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has published a solid report on "media freedom literacy" that includes many examples of good practice.
... And the stories of some champions at doing that.
Check out the ways seven champion educators, news media and NGOS are ensuring that students in primary and secondary school learn about the crucial role of journalism and about the dangers faced by some who do that job.
The 2025 edition of this award will launch on 1 July.
MEET ALL THE PAST LAUREATES !
WE NEED YOUR HELP
We want to find the best ways to measure the impact on adolescents of getting a first experience in journalistic coaching.
In our World Teenage Reporting Project, we amplify youth journalism when it seems necessary to do so.
Now, we are working with other NGOs to find tools to measure in ways that allow at least a basic international comparison the impact on a teenager of a first experience in getting coached to do journalism.
We've made progress thanks to work in the USA, Sweden, Malaysia and North Macedonia, and we'd also love to learn what you know, especially about the specifics of any assessment tools you use.
We're especially interested in what can measure counter-cynicism, acquiring an appreciation of the role of journalism as a support of democracy while at the same time also learning the media literacy skills to check all content and sources.
Please give a shout in the contact form below if you can recommend a resource, a measurement tool or a contact.
OUR OVERALL ACTION AREAS
THE PRIZE
The Global Youth & News Media Prize honors organizations and individuals for outstanding and transferable innovation as they strengthen engagement between news media and young people while reinforcing the role of journalism in society. In short, they celebrate news media that serve, support and both attract and learn from young audiences.
MORE ABOUT THE AWARDS
THE INAUGURAL AWARD
The Guardian US and the Eagle Eye student newsmagazine of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, USA) were the first Global Youth & News Media Prize laureates, receiving an honorary award for their joint live coverage in March 2018 of the March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington D.C. to promote gun control.
The citation read: “The Guardian and the student journalism staff of The Eagle Eye at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School worked jointly to keep young voices front and center in the live coverage of the March for Our Lives demonstration for The Guardian US by the student journalists of The Eagle Eye. This initiative provides a stunning example of a student takeover of a trusted news source that offers solid lessons for other newsrooms to dare to do something similar.”
The honorary award marked the launch of the global prize and was presented 14 November 2018 at NewsXchange, the European Broadcasting Union's premier conference that attracts top news executives from all over the world. It was held in Edinburgh and hosted by BBC News and BBC Scotland.
DETAILS HERE
THE PROJECTS
We amplify journalism by and for the young mainly through our World Teenage Reporting Projects and with Children's News Europe. SHOW ME THE PROJECTS
THE RESOURCES
To reinforce teaching about what UNESCO terms Media and Information Literacy we are curating and constantly updating sets of background, briefings and lesson plans for explaining why journalism is a good thing for a society to have and what threats the people who do that job too often face.
Partners & SUPPORTERS
Council of Europe North-South Centre promotes an active global citizenship among governments, parliaments, local & regional authorities and civil society by raising awareness of global interdependence through intercultural dialogue and global education.
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Erasmus + is the European Union's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe.
World News Day (28 September) focuses on a global campaign to display support for journalists and their audiences, who use facts and understanding to help make the world a better place. In 2022, the campaign concentrated #JournalismMatters.
Global Media and Information Literacy Week and World Press Freedom Day represent two UNESCO initiatives that align particularly well with our objectives, and we are delighted to actively support them with both publicity and participation. We have also done actions in support of several commemorative days designated by the United Nations: International Day for Tolerance, Human Rights Month, the International Day of Education and the International Day of Peace
Schurz Communications, WAN-IFRA Press Freedom and IAPA/SIP (Interamerican Press Association/Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa) joined us in 2021 to launch the inaugural Press Freedom Teacher Award, a part of the News/Media Literacy category of the Global Youth & News Media Prize. The first awards were given in memory of Scott C. Schurz (1936-2021) , a global leader in promoting press freedom activism and actions for youth among publishers. Since then, we have expanded award as a Press Freedom Teaching Award to also recognize such work by news media organizations. We now honor and amplify the cases of threatened journalists who are chosen by students in the previous laureates' classes.
PRESS FREEDOM
We are proud members of these global networks:
The Learning Planet Institute, based in France, which promotes an educational revolution to surmount the challenges of our rapidly changing and increasingly complex world.
HundrED, based in Finland, which identifies, amplifies and helps implement in new places educational innovations that have impact and the potential to grow.
Anna Lindh Foundation, based in Egypt, which brings together the very diverse civil society organizations involved in the promotion of intercultural dialogue across the Euro-Mediterranean region.
FOUNDING SUPPORTERS
News-Decoder, the initiative of the French-based non-profit Nouvelles Decouvertes that provides secondary and university students with a news service and the opportunity for borderless, face-to-face discussions about important matters of the day.
The Google News Initiative, which works with the news industry to help journalism thrive in the digital age.
The European Journalism Centre, an international non-profit headquartered in The Netherlands that connects journalists with new ideas, skills and people
In addition, we greatly apreciate an array of generous people who prefer to remain anonymous and who have helped us both financially and morally when we have needed it most. You know who you are.
Image by CLICKR FREE VECTOR IMAGES by from PIXABAY
Finally, we encourage you to join us in support ing Ukraine's Voices of Children Foundation , which does art therapy and much more, and Media City Bergen's Anne Jacobsen Memorial Award, named after a longtime advocate of news media youth actions.
