NEW PHOTOJOURNALISM CATEGORY ADDED TO AMNESTY’S YOUNG HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION

Amnesty International UK today formally launched the 2013 Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year competition with the addition of an exciting new category: photojournalism.

The new photojournalism competition is open to students aged 7 to 18 from across the UK and is split into two categories: Upper Primary and Lower Secondary, and Upper Secondary and Sixth Form.

The journalism competition is split into four categories: Upper Primary, Lower Secondary, Upper Secondary and Sixth Form. Articles can be up to 500 words in length and entries will be accepted in both English and Welsh.

The competition is run in conjunction with The Guardian Teacher Network and MA Education, the publishers of SecEd, and aims to find the human rights journalists, and now photographers, of tomorrow.

Heather Booton, from Skipton Girls’ High School in Yorkshire, won the Upper Secondary school category this year for her article on Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights’s rights in Kenya. The 16 year old said:

“I was astonished to win. It was huge for me, especially as I really want to go into journalism.

“I would say to anyone that it’s definitely worth a shot. It’s was a brilliant day. I genuinely didn’t expect to win.”

Mike Blakemore, Media Director of Amnesty International UK, added:

“The competition has gone from strength to strength. This year we had thousands of students take part from all four corners of the United Kingdom. And it is that success that encouraged us to add the new category.

“Each day images from places like Syria, Libya and Somalia surface that help inspire a new generation of human rights defenders into action. I look forward to seeing the images the budding photographers of tomorrow produce.

“Photographers and journalists play such an important role in exposing human rights abuses and hopefully this competition can inspire a new generation.”

The competition closes on 18 February, with the top three entrants in each category invited to Amnesty’s headquarters for a prestigious awards ceremony on 30 April 2013.

The winners of each age group in both the Journalism and Photojournalism categories will each receive: a goodie bag, an Amnesty International Media Award (to be presented at a ceremony at Amnesty International UK’s headquarters on 30 April 2013), and a year’s subscription to The Day (www.theday.co.uk).

The author Sara Grant has already been confirmed as one of the competition’s judges.

Full details of how to enter can be found at www.amnesty.org.uk/youngreporter