On the 9th of December “Equal Opportunities” Media 9th award ceremony took place where the Special Prize went to Mary Aleksanyan of Human Rights in Armenia website for her video “Dear Grigor Amalyan, Listen to Our Silent Voices!”.

“This is a special prize, special from several viewpoints. It is first of all multimedia, which already is worth for our award. It is particularly special since during 9 years we had lots of materials, which covered the topic of the rights of people with hearing problems, but from another angle. I am in the NGO sector for so many years, but for the first time I discovered for myself the defender of rights, who can lead many young people with hearing problems with their silent voices”, said the head of “Bridge of Hope” NGO Susanna Tadevosyan when awarding the special prize.

The aim of the annual award is spreading the idea of equal opportunities for people with disabilities. This year the number of presented articles was unprecedented - 60 materials were presented from 44 journalists.

“The number is primarily connected with the growth of interest of the journalists in the issues of disability. On the other hand NGOs have become very active with their public events, during which they invite media and give them the chance to cover this issue”, mentioned Susanna Tadevosyan.

The first place for the nomination of “Best Video” was awarded to the journalist of “Shoghakat” TV company Liana Minasyan, 2nd place was awarded to the journalist of “Liberty” radio-station Hasmik Smbatyan, the journalist of “Ar” TV Company Armine Oleyan got the third place.

The committee didn’t award anyone with the first place for the nomination of “Best Printed Material”. The second place went to Arpi Maghaqyan from haynews.am news website, and the third place went to Parandzem Hovhannisyan from MediaLab news website.

Encouraging awards went to Anna Hayrapetyan from “Yerkir Media” TV Compnay, Ani Gasparyan and Mane Grigoryan from haynews.am analytic and informational website.

No prizes were awarded in the nomination for “Best Radio Material”.

During the ceremony the RA Ministry of Social and Labor Issues awarded Gratitude to “Aravot” daily for periodically covering the issues of disability and spreading the idea of equal opportunities.

To the question whether there are changes in recent years in the quality of covering the issues of disability, Susanna Tadevosyan answered: “The language and ethics of covering this issue has changed dramatically, which is quite encouraging, since people follow the words. I would like many serious problems to be covered as well, I would like journalists also wrote analysis on issues of rights, limitations, absence of opportunities based on various sources, not one. I see lack of comprehensive and analytic materials”.

The winners were selected by the committee- Susanna Tadevosyan (President of “Bridge of Hope” NGO), Ara Shirinyan, (“Shoghakat” TV Company), Nune Sargsyan (“Internews”), Nune Aleksanyan (Public TV Company) and the winners of the past year contest. The video that got Special Prize is below:

Source: www.hra.am