Stepping into its fourth year, the National Community Radio Awards has invited applications for  five different categories — Thematic Award, Community Engagement Award, Promoting Local Culture Award, Most Creative/Innovative Programme Content Award and Sustainability Model Award.

The 5th National Sammelan — due to be held in February or March, 2015 — will present the 4th  Community Radio Awards. January 15, 2015 has been fixed as the last date of receiving applications.

The Community Radio Stations applying for the awards should be operational for at least one year. Each station can send a maximum of two entries for any two categories. The programme should not exceed the duration of 15 minutes and also, they should not be produced by professionals.

All the entries — along with the CD of programme in MP3 format — should be sent by speed post or registered post. Entries through e-mail will not be accepted.
It should also be attached with a copy of log book, signed and stamped by the station-in-charge. Entries with unsigned log books will not be considered.

Each category will have 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize of Rs. 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively.

The category of Thematic Award requires that the programme should be a series of at least 13 episodes on a particular theme that has relevance to the community.

The entry for Community Engagement should reflect the process involved in bringing the community together for a broader engagement.

Entries for Promoting Local Culture Award can be in any language, but must be accompanied by a description of what efforts were made to promote local culture and a brief summary be provided in English or Hindi.
The programme could be on cuisine, folk music, festivals or other cultural activities which have a sustained impact on the community.

The purpose of the Most Innovative Programme Content Award is to encourage Community Radio Stations to be more experimental on introducing new formats of programme, presentation or adaptation of traditional communication formats to convey development concerns to the community with greater impact.

The category of Sustainability Model Award is to encourage Community Radio stations to adopt innovative models to generate revenue for self-sustenance.
Sustainability means that the station should have sustainability on four fronts — content, human resources, technical and financial.

To know more details, click here

Author: Ruby Rani/ OneWorld