Rory Peck Trust Announces Finalists Of 2008 Impact Award

The Rory Peck Trust has announced the three finalists of the Impact Award 2008, sponsored by Sony UK, which honours the integrity of freelance cameramen and women in capturing humanitarian imagery that has had an impact internationally and led to a change in perception or policy.
This year’s judging panel, chaired by Nick Wrenn, Managing Editor, Europe, Middle East and Africa at CNN International, highlighted the tremendous courage and determination shown by the journalists to share the consequences of oppression with the rest of the world, as well as their ability to capture immensely powerful footage in extremely adverse conditions. The winner will be announced at The Rory Peck Awards on November 13th 2008 at The British Film Institute, Southbank in London.
"Entries to this year’s Rory Peck Awards were of the highest standard yet," explained David Bush, Director of Marketing, Sony Professional Solutions Europe. "A strong humanitarian theme emerged from the work, with some of the most powerful footage focusing on the micro-impact of a global event on individual people and their communities. The sensitive and emotional treatment of many of these reports moved the judges and made the process of short listing the finalists a very tough one indeed."
"This year’s entries were a stark reminder of the suffering that people face in so many places – not just in war zones. The Rory Peck Awards honour the courage of freelance cameramen and camerawomen, who so often show us the realities of human rights abuse,"said Tina Carr, Director of The Rory Peck Trust.
The finalists are: 'Mugabe's Calling Card', by 'D' and Ginny Stein, which provides a remarkably powerful insight into the violence, political oppression and struggle that Zimbabweans face; 'Korea: Out of the North', by In Taek Jung and Yong Ho Han, which follows the long journey taken by North Korean refugees providing an eye opening and first person account of the risks they are willing to take in order to escape the last closed Communist country; and 'Undercover In Tibet', by Jezza Neumann, which follows Tibetan exile Tash Despa as he returns to the homeland he risked his life to escape 11 years ago.
The judges are: Nart Bouran, Director of Television, Reuters Media; David Bush, Director of Marketing, Sony Professional Solutions Europe; Christine Buhagiar, Chief Editor, Agence France Presse TV; Birgit Virnich, ARD, German Television; Gulmira Mamedova, Correspondent, TV Zvezda – Russia and; Stefano Tura, Correspondent, RAI.
(KMcA)