Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS Announces Recipients of Inaugural Awards to Create HIV-Themed Programming
May 14, 2007 – Montego Bay, Jamaica – The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP), a growing coalition of 43 Caribbean media houses from 23 countries, today announced the first group of awards to help spur new programming about HIV/AIDS. The CBMP Project Awards Program aims to underwrite the development and production of original local television and radio programming on HIV/AIDS and related issues in the Caribbean. The programming will be made available rights-free to broadcast companies across the region as part of the CBMP’s regular distribution of quarterly programming packages for its broadcast membership.
The 2006 CBMP Project Awards will involve celebrities, youth, musical artists and representatives of vulnerable communities in creating innovative pieces about HIV/AIDS for radio and TV broadcast. The recipients include:
- Grenada Cablevision Ltd., Community Channel 6 (Grenada) – The Wave of Tomorrow: It Can Happen to Me
A 60-minute video documentary on the effects of HIV and AIDS with specific emphasis on Grenada’s response to the epidemic. - Caribbean Media Corporation (Regional) – Stars for Hope III
Stars III, a half-hour documentary film that blends music and performance, will use the voices and images of Caribbean artists and West Indies cricketers to focus on the link between substance abuse and HIV, featuring the story of a former entertainer who lived on the streets after becoming addicted to drugs. - CVM Jamaica – Sparking the Consciousness
As part of a three month campaign focusing on HIV prevention and behavioral change, a forum on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) 2007 will be held in Kingston, Jamaica to focus on the following HIV-related themes – protection, testing, living with HIV/AIDS, and discrimination. - Great Belize Productions (Belize, TV Channel 5) – HIV and Vulnerable Populations: MSMs and CSWs
A television news feature/documentary production featuring individuals in vulnerable populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and commercial sex workers (CSW) and organizations that work with these groups to highlight issues related to HIV/AIDS. - National Broadcasting Corporation of St. Vincent & the Grenadines – Youths Dubbing/Rapping against HIV/AIDS
A competition with the popular medium of dub to develop specific messages in musical form for broadcasting during HIV programming. Winners will have opportunities to serve as youth ambassadors at HIV/AIDS events.
“The variety of planned programming demonstrates both a critical need for more targeted information about HIV/AIDS and an impressive commitment among Caribbean broadcasters to tackle the issues with creative talent and resources,” noted CBMP Steering Committee Chair, Dr. Allyson Leacock. “By building the capacity of local media companies to produce HIV-themed content and making this programming available rights-free across the region, Caribbean people across many islands will benefit from the work of individual broadcasters. This is an important reason why we created this historic coalition of broadcasters one year ago.”
The Project Awards were officially announced at the CBMP’s Television Workshop on HIV/AIDS, taking place this week in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Writers, producers, and journalists representing more than 20 Caribbean countries are participating in the training session that will include actress Gloria Reuben – who played an HIV-positive character on the popular drama “ER” – and representatives from MTV, BET and PBS’s Frontline program.
Earlier this year, in conjunction with the opening of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, the CBMP launched LIVE UP: Love. Protect. Respect. – the first pan-Caribbean effort led by broadcasters to inspire and empower young people to help stem the spread of HIV/AIDS across the region. The historic, multiyear campaign employs positive, inspirational messages to encourage audiences across the Caribbean, especially young people, to better understand their HIV risk and take personal action in response.
ABOUT THE CBMP
The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) unites 43 top broadcasters from 23 countries in the region’s first coordinated media response to the pandemic. The Partnership creates a structured framework for sharing information and resources among broadcasters that significantly expands HIV/AIDS-related programming and public education activities across the Caribbean. Member broadcasters deliver HIV/AIDS information across a variety of platforms and formats, including targeted public service announcements (PSAs), entertainment programming, news and public affairs programming, and online resources.
The CBMP was launched in May 2006 at a regional summit of media executives on HIV/AIDS, organized by the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The CBMP is overseen by a Steering Committee of broadcast executives representing a diverse constituency of media houses from Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Belize, and regional organizations Caribbean Media Corporation and Caribbean Broadcasting Union, with strategic and technical guidance and production support from Kaiser. The Ford Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation provide additional financial support to underwrite production of campaign materials and informational resources. For more information, visit http://www.cbmphiv.org.
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