|
|
News
Voices of Hope
Schools Project 2003
This is the larger Amnesty project that took over the 'Australia IS Refugees' project which was co-ordinated by Australians Against Racism last year. This year, AAR is sponsoring the $1000 national prize for the Literature section (judged by Eva Sallis and Arnold Zable). The prizemoney was raised by sales of the 'Australia IS Refugees' winning stories booklet from 2002, so thank you all for your enthusiasm in purchasing and recommending that wonderful collection of nine stories.
Update from Amnesty International Australia
AIA has received hundreds of entries from secondary students around Australia responding to the question 'If you had one chance to remind people that refugees are human beings, how would you do it?'
We received a range of entries across the three categories of arts/multimedia, literature and performing arts, with literature and arts/multimedia proving to be the most popular.
State judging for the competition has been completed and winning entries have been selected. Some of those who have participated in the judging at state level include: Alice Garner (Secret Life of Us), Arnold Zable (author, The Fig Tree), Reg Mombassa (Mambo Designs) and Sacha Horler (AFI best actress), along with many others. The 1st prize winner in each category, from every state, is currently with the national judges who will select a national winning entry for each category. Our national judges include: Arnold Zable, Eva Sallis, Reg Mombassa, Shona White and Brigitte Pirrie. Many thanks to all our judges who generously donated so much time and energy to this project.
Victoria, NSW, Queensland, ACT, SA and Tasmania are hosting an awards ceremony/festival to be held on June 20th or 21st, to coincide with World Refugee Day. Plans for the ceremonies include guest speakers, student performances, bands, displays of art work and literature, readings etc. Whatever the format, each of these events will be a wonderful celebration of the students' work. For more information and festival/awards ceremony details please log onto Amnesty International Australia 'Voices of Hope' or ring your local AIA Resource Centre on 1800 808 157.
Winners at both state and national level will be announced at the festivals/awards ceremonies.
Nationally we are putting together a CD Rom including a selection of the award winning entries in each state, with attached information about refugees in Australia and around the world. These will be reasonably priced, and may be ordered from the awards ceremony/festival in your state, or through your state AIA Resource Centre from 23 June 2003.
Thank you to everyone who has generously donated their time, energy, money or products to this initiative, making the inaugural 'Voices of Hope' a reality and such a success. One of AIA's main goal is to raise the awareness and profile of human rights issues, and fundamental human rights, within the broader community. 'Voices of Hope' has managed to do this in a way which engages students, teachers and hopefully parents too!
And stay tuned for information on AIA's Voices of Hope 2004, covering a new human rights issue in the coming months.
|
|
