With the Christmas break nearing, now is the perfect time to enter the Student Human Rights Reporter of the Year award. The competition is a collaboration between Amnesty International UK, the National Union of Students and The Observer newspaper.

The top prize this year is a fellowship with the US-based Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. The prize includes a $2,000 travel grant to cover an under-reported topic of the winner’s choice. Throughout their trip, Pulitzer staff and professional journalists will be on hand to provide mentoring and editorial assistance. The final article will be published on Pulitzer’s website and pitched to outside media using the company’s team of experts.

Previous Pulitzer fellows have travelled to a wide range of countries, from Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates to Greece, South Africa, and Argentina.

In addition, the winner of the award, now in its third year, will be profiled in The Observer’s New Review section and get two weeks’ work experience at the paper; an Amnesty, NUS and Observer goodie bag; and an invitation to Amnesty’s prestigious Media Awards where they will pick up their award.

The Amnesty Media Awards showcase the very best of human rights journalism from national newspapers to television documentaries and the ceremony draws together over 450 people from the top echelons of British media.

The entry could be a personal opinion, an interview or a report on any current human rights issue. For example, it could be on the right to protest, the Arms, a profile of a human rights defender, or a country such as North Korea, Burma or Zimbabwe.

The competition is open to all students at UK universities, Further Education Colleges or Higher Education Colleges.

Articles should be up to 2,000 words long, broadcast pieces should be no longer than 10-minutes long, and must have been published or aired between 1 September 2012 and 18 February 2013 in a recognised UK student media outlet.

For more details, including how to enter, visit www.amnesty.org.uk/studentreporter