The sponsor, One World Media, is a non-profit organisation that supports media coverage of global issues. This is the second year the EBRD has sponsored the Television Award.
“These are awards very much followed and attended by journalists interested in development and our countries of operations,” said Jonathan Charles, EBRD Communications Director. “It’s a way of reaching out to them to make our presence known and to explain what the EBRD does.”
The winning film, Channel 4’s “Children on the Frontline”, followed five children in the rebel enclave of Aleppo as they adapted to the harsh reality of the three-year civil war. Nearly one in ten of Syria’s war dead is 17 or younger.
Mr Charles awarded the prize at an awards ceremony held at King’s Place, London. He also served on the jury which chose the winning film, alongside Christopher Wyld, Director of the Foreign Press Association; Razia Iqbal, Special Correspondent and Presenter at BBC News; and Roula Khalaf, Foreign Editor of the Financial Times.
“What [the jury] liked most about this film is that it really looked at the impact of the Syrian war on children,” said Mr Charles. “It was very risky to make and required great courage from its filmmakers. It showed a side of the Syrian conflict that we hadn’t seen before and was very moving.”
The other two finalists were Channel 4’s “North Korea: Life Inside the Secret State” and Al Jazeera English’s “Orphans of the Sahara: Return”. The finalists were chosen from 12 submitted films.
