The call for nominations for the fourth Annual Award for Excellence in HIV and AIDS Communication in Africa

“The African Network for Strategic Communication in Health and Development (AfriComNet) is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the fourth Annual Award for Excellence in HIV and AIDS Communication in Africa”

The purposes of the award are:

1. Recognise outstanding contributions made by individuals/organisations in the field of strategic HIV/AIDS communication.
2. Encourage innovation and the highest standards of quality in strategic communication in Africa.
3. Enhance appreciation of strategic communication as a necessary tool for health and development.
4. Attract outstanding individuals and organisations in Africa to advanced careers in strategic communication.
5. Highlight programmes, tools and productions that advance the state-of-the-art in strategic communication and can be adapted and applied elsewhere.

The award categories include:

• Best mass media campaign, intervention or production.
• Best folk media initiative.
• Best multi-channel communication strategy, campaign or tool.
• Best interpersonal/community-based communication strategy, campaign or tool.
• Best Social Marketing Strategy, Campaign or Tool

The nominated strategic communication initiatives and productions will be judged according to the following criteria:

• The strategy, campaign or tool should have made significant contribution to innovating, strengthening and popularizing strategic communication as a necessary tool for health and development.
• The nominee should be an African citizen or have worked in Africa for a period of more than two years; and the initiative or production must have been implemented in Africa.
• If a creative team is behind the communication initiative, at least one member of the team should be an African citizen.
• The initiative should have demonstrated success in communities, workplaces and organisations, meaning it has contributed to behaviour change, better understanding of health, and improved well-being of the target audience.
• There should be measurable outcomes to show success of the strategic communication tools used to achieve improved well-being of the community.
• The initiatives should highlight strategic communication approaches that have positively influenced HIV and AIDS prevention, care, support and/or treatment and should have been evaluated.
• Communication interventions must have followed a strategic communication process including formative research and evaluation.

The deadline to submit nominations is 15 March 2010. For more information, visit this link.