Reaching a wider audience and improving the quality, one of the success stories of AIPS Sport Media Awards
Russia’s Igor Rabiner is in the top three of the Writing –
Best Column category of the inaugural AIPS Sport Media Award
Chibuogwu Nnadiegbulam, AIPS Young Reporter, Nigeria
LAUSANNE, January 18, 2019 - The AIPS Sport Media Awards
have received plaudits from the finalists of its first edition.
“This is a great initiative. An awards ceremony is only as
prestigious as the organization behind it. The AIPS is an extremely respected
international association, so this recognition is a great honour,” said Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza. He, alongside Greg Groggel and Peter Berg are in the top
three of the Video – Athlete Profile category for their film about Cuban boxing
which was published on the Olympic Channel.
APPRECIATION
Antje Windmann, who is one of the top three nominees for
Writing – Best Colour Piece, is a sports journalist with one of Germany’s top
magazines, Der Spiegel: “I absolutely appreciate this initiative. There are
discussions if awards for journalists are necessary but I think they can really
highlight topics which are underrepresented in the daily business,” she said.
Italian Dario Ricci, nominated in the top three of the Audio
category, agreed: “I really appreciate it. It's important to have the
opportunity to compare our different points of view about sport, and our
different ways to tell and describe it.”
VALUE
Italian journalist Emanuela Audisio thinks having an international
award for the sport media industry is an “excellent idea”.
Audisio was nominated in the Video – Athlete Profile (Pelé’s
last show) and Video – Documentary (Mexico 68). “It gives value to our work and
the chance to reach a wider audience. Confronting different work from different
countries and cultures opens minds,” she says.
José Ignacio Pérez Hernández, from Spain’s leading sports
newspaper Marca, added: “The AIPS Sport Media Awards offer thousands of
journalists the opportunity to exhibit their work to the entire world. Also it
is a way to contribute to the value and prestige of sport journalism, and to
the improvement, creativity and innovation of the content of the mass media.”
Hernández made it to the top three of the Writing – Best Colour Piece category.
To further highlight the value of the Awards, Anthony
Audureau, one of the top three of the Video – Athlete Profile category
nominees, explained: “Sport is universal. We can see that during international
competitions when people coming from very different countries share the same
passion in the same place. A lot of sport stories deserve to be told and known
all around the world.
“The Awards are not only a recognition for good quality
journalistic work, they are also a way to promote unknown sports, athletes or
sport traditions in countries not used to big media-friendly competitions.”
QUALITY
Patrick B. Kraemer and Adam Pretty,
who are both in the top three of the Photography – Portfolio category, believe
the AIPS Sport Media Awards can help curb the scourge in the sports media
industry.
“It's a great idea. Especially in this difficult time where
the quality of images in the media is decreasing and the trend is going from
quality to quantity, it is important to set a counterpoint,” Kraemer said.
“Having an awards and competition only improves the level of
photography or reporting as it gives you something to measure yourself against
and see how you match up and what work you need to do to measure up to the
competition,” added Pretty.
FUTURE
Aaron Kearney, who is in the top three of the Audio category
also agreed: “To have a celebration of the finest work, and a recognition of
the importance of quality, is vital to the future of our industry. The AIPS
Sports Media Awards will surely become the Oscars of sports journalism and to
be among the inaugural finalists is something I will always treasure.”
Meanwhile in Pirmin Styrnol’s hometown, Lahr (Germany), his
nomination was received with media interest. “A colleague wrote in the
newspaper that the Awards are something like the ‘Oscars for sport
journalists’.” Styrnol, together with Jürgen Schmidt, have their audio piece
about German football hero, Horst Eckel in the final.
SUPPORT
Surely there can be only one winner in each category of the
Awards at the ceremony on January 21, but Russia’s Igor Rabiner, who is in the
top three of the Writing – Best Column category has painted a bigger picture.
“It's not sports itself where the criteria is pretty firm,
and everybody in the stands see how you win or lose. Journalism, as any
creative sphere, is hard to evaluate, so I understand what an amazingly
complicated task the AIPS international jury had and still has. But this goal
really motivates all sports journalists in the world to work with more inspiration
and to go above just fulfilling what their bosses' want from them today and
right now.
“I always say that we all have to support each other because
we are in the same boat. If any sports paper, website, TV channel or radio
station collapses because of any reason, as it happened recently with Sport FM,
the only sports radio station in Russia, it's a huge blow not only for it, but
for our profession. So each of us must do everything possible to make it more
prestigious. That's why I hope that my selection would help to promote sports
media industry in my country.”
SUCCESS
The first edition of the Awards received an impressive 1273
submissions from 119 nations across eight categories. Special categories
(Investigative reporting and A life in Sport) will also be presented at the
Awards ceremony on January 21, at the Beau-Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne,
Switzerland.
The AIPS Sport Media Awards are the
highest international accolade in the sports media industry and the
initiative by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) is aimed
at investing in culture as well as the future of sport journalism, and
protecting the integrity of the profession.