5th UNICEF Awards Presentation Ceremony, Hyderabad

5th UNICEF Awards for Children-Related Programmes in Telugu TV Channels 5th UNICEF Awards for Children-Related Programmes in Telugu TV Channels

Hyderabad: The 5th UNICEF Awards for Children-Related Programmes in Telugu Television Channels were presented at a special ceremony in Hyderabad on December 10, 2013. Twelve awards in diverse categories, including the highest "UNICEF Awards for Channel Most Committed to Children" were presented on this occasion.

Honorable Speaker AP Assembly Mr. Nadendla Manohar was the Chief Guest of the event. Ms. Amala Akkineni, Child Rights Supporter and Founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad graced the occasion as Special Invitee while National Award winning Telugu Filmmaker Mr. Sekhar Kammula was the Guest of Honour. Dr. Shantha Sinha, Jury Chairperson 5th UNICEF Awards, Ms. P. N. Vasanti, Director, Centre for Media Studies (CMS) and from UNICEF Office for Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka Mr. Sonykutty George, Officer-in-Charge and Mr. Prosun Sen. Advocacy & Communication Specialist were present at the awards ceremony. Select government officials, heads of TV channels, eminent media personalities, members of the academia and representatives of the civil society organisations also participated.

The prestigious UNICEF Awards, initiated in partnership with Centre for Media Studies (CMS), is now in its 5' year. The purpose of the award is to enhance awareness, knowledge and understanding about children issues amongst Telugu news and entertainment channels and encourage the editorial staff and the producers of the channels to pay greater attention to children-related programme content. The Telugu TV Channels have been an active participant in the UNICEF Awards since its inception and have demonstrated sustained commitment towards issues related to children.

This year, CMS tracked, monitored and recorded 7600 hours of prime time content telecast by 19 Telugu channels during August 1, 2013 to November 8, 2013. The recorded programmes were then viewed for shortlisting children-related programmes. In the process 5526 minutes of content were retained. The retained content were categorised by formats such as Documentary, News Story, Public Service Message, Fictional Programme, Topical Issues, Inspirational Programme and Panel Discussions. These programmes were further classified into four pre-announced themes, namely, Child Health, Child Education, Child Protection and Child Right to Food Security and Nutrition.

In addition to the 5526 minutes of children-related programmes that were shortlisted as part of the prime time media monitoring, the jury also evaluated an additional 760 minutes of programmes which were received as self-nominations from channels.

The Telugu TV programmes were evaluated on parameters such as message research and presentation, innovation, quality of visuals, treatment of the subject from legal and rights perspective and overall assessment of the potential impact of the programme on the viewers.