Chinese campaigner wins top British environment award
08/11/2007
One of China's leading green campaigners and former journalist, Ma Jun has been awarded the Awareness Award at this year's British Environment and Media Awards (BEMAs) presented by WWF at Canary Wharf in London on 7 November.
"This extraordinary man has not only helped raise awareness of the environment in a determined and unique way, but has also proposed achievable solutions to overcome some of the world's most pressing pollution problems," announced David Nussbaum, Chief Executive of WWF-UK.
The awards mark the significant contribution campaigners and journalists make towards changing public opinion about the need to preserve the environment.
Ma Jun rapidly gained a reputation through his incisive investigative reports on the Chinese environment, which appeared in the South China Morning Post newspaper from 1993 to 2000.
Ma Jun's book, China's Water Crisis, has been described by Time magazine as "China's first great environmental call to arms".
He has since founded the NGO, Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPEA), which is among those leading the charge to clean up the air and rivers of China.
The IPEA also publicly declares hundreds of companies whose pollution records exceed Chinese limits.
Winning words
Other BEMA awards included The Guardian for the prize of Newspaper of the Year. Judges said the newspaper presented environmental issues in a positive way, including solutions for people to follow.
Fiona Harvey, the Environment Correspondent at The Financial Times, won the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Award for Journalist of the Year for her in-depth, factual and analytical reporting.
The Sunday Times Magazine was presented the award for best coverage by a magazine providing a fresh slant on the issues of the impact of pollution and fishing on the UK coastline.
Broadcast scoops
The BBC Radio 4 programme called Costing the Earth won the award for Best Radio News or Current Affairs Programme for the package called Mermaids Tears, which looked at the plastic that now litters our shores. The piece offered solutions both for individuals and industry.
The Northumbrian Water Award for Best Television News and Current Affairs Coverage was won by BBC Ten O'Clock News for its climate change coverage - ten items, spanning a formidable range of angles and locations.
Granada and KQED Public Television's production of China - Shifting Nature won the award for Best Television Documentary.
The Award for Best Website went to Surfers Against Sewage for its clarity of purpose, its willingness to reach out to a variety of audiences and the enthusiasm and emotion it brought to its campaign message.
Campaign win
People & Planet's 'Green League' won the Weber Shandwick Worldwide Award for Best Campaign while the Andrew Lees Memorial Award, was given to Rebecca Hosking, an inspirational campaigner, who was shocked by effects of plastic waste on marine life that she saw whilst making a documentary film in the Pacific.
When Rebecca came home she persuaded all the shopkeepers in her own town of Modbury to ban the use of plastic bags. The town's example caught imaginations across the country and worldwide and the movement is now growing rapidly.
Winnie De'Ath, Director of Communications at WWF-UK said: "Rebecca's speech demonstrated what the BEMAs are all about. Her words of warning about plastic bags were shocking but her determination to make a difference was truly inspiring."
The BEMA awards were created by Media Natura and presented by WWF-UK since 2001.