Background:

WTI’s flagship campaign for elephants, ‘Gaj Yatra’ was conceptualized to generate public and political support for the National Heritage Animal. Through Gaj Yatra, we are trying to sensitize policymakers, communities living in elephant corridor areas, stakeholders, and the masses about elephants and the need for their movement from one forest path to the other. We have phrased this as ‘Right of Passage’ and is one of WTI’s notable conservation projects.

The Media can act as a fulcrum for engaging government, institutional, and public support for elephant conservation and mobilizing action for it.  Media can influence conservation more concretely than many other sectors of society and the campaign aims to initiate wildlife conservation-oriented policy advocacy, reforms, and media with elephants as the flagship species across elephant range states.

With this thought, WTI launches the ‘Gajah Mitra’ Award for Young Journalists/Social Media Influencers in Kerala who are keen on reporting on issues related to elephants and their conservation in the state. The overarching objective of this is to highlight elephant corridor matters and concerns positively in regional mainstream media for emphasizing elephant’s need for safe passage

Asian Elephants, Photo by Vivek Menon

WTI Gajah Mitra Media Award (GMMA) Details:

The award will be given to FOUR young journalists (age 21-40 years – as of Oct 1, 2022), one each from television, digital (print/online), radio, and social media. Applicants need to publish/broadcast a minimum of five news stories or three long-form feature stories between August 2022 and March 2023. Applications from social media will be evaluated based on how they have:

a) built momentum to support the campaign.

b) have had an impact on society.

Winners will be selected by an independent jury comprising eminent author of Malayalam literature Mr. Paul Zacharia along with Dr. P.S. Easa, Member of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group and Chairman of Aryanakam Nature Foundation. The winners will be announced in April 2023 and each of them will be awarded a trophy, citation, and cash prize of Rs 25,000.

Selection Criteria:

• The applicants should be in the age group of 21-40 years, as of Oct 1, 2022, and based out of Kerala.

• The awards are open to journalists from four categories- Print/Online (regional as well as freelance journalists), Television/Documentary Features, Radio/Podcasts, and Social Media Influencers (with a minimum of 0.5 million followers)

• The applicants would be required to share their i.e. published/ broadcast stories (a min of five news stories or three long-form feature stories in any format, aligned to issues concerning elephant conservation or celebrating the pride of Asian elephant) i.e. print’s scanned copy/e-news or news video or series published between August 2022 – March 2023. Social media influencer applicants are encouraged to post on a monthly basis to keep up the momentum of the campaign.

Contact Details:

Applicants must submit their stories to the below-mentioned email ids along with proof of their age:

Ms Saymanti Bandyopadhay, Email ID: po.campaigns@wti.org.in

Mr Sreenanth K, Email ID: po.communication@wti.org.in

For more details on the Right of Passage project and the Kerala Gaj Utsav campaign, please visit: https://www.wti.org.in/projects/right-of-passage-national-elephant-corridors-project/

https://rightofpassage.wti.org.in/

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