Guyana Journalist Among Five UNDP Contest Winners for COP 21 in Paris

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GENEVA, Oct 27 2015 – Five young journalists have been selected to join the upcoming climate change conference(COP21) in Paris in December. The journalists, winners of a ‘Voices2Paris’ storytelling contest run by UNDP and Oxfam, will help cover the conference and the critical issue of tackling climate change.

The contest winners who will join UNDP at the COP21 in Paris are Mr. Neil Marks (Guyana), Ms Diana Omondi Makimario (Kenya), Mrs Shahani Singh Shrestha (Nepal), Ms Augustina Armstrong-Ogbonna (Nigeria) and Mrs María del Pilar Celi Frías (Peru).

“One of the objectives of the contest was to encourage further local coverage of climate change impacts and solutions. ‘Voices2Paris’ is already a success if we consider that the articles were published in more than 40 countries, in mainstream as well as climate related publications, and contributed to greater public awareness on climate change.” noted Sarah Bel, UNDP Communication Specialist in Geneva.

The stories were judged based on their content, structure, photographs and relevance, and how well they incorporated climate science. A group of senior journalists from top tiered media including EFE, the Economic Times of India, Climate Central, Climate home, Le Monde, Panapress and Thomson Reuters Foundation, scored the entries and selected after two rounds of scoring the five best stories.

UNDP has been a leading supporter to developing countries throughout the COP21 negotiations and in the development of climate targets. The winning journalists will join UNDP’s delegation, including Administrator Helen Clark, in Paris for the conference, where UNDP will push heavily for post-Paris action to combat climate change.