New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards honors Al Jazeera shows ” Nepal: Children for Sale” and “China’s Animal Crusaders”
April 18 – Al Jazeera English’s Asian current affairs show 101 East has been awarded a Silver Medal for its film Nepal: Children for Sale by the New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards. 101 East’s film China’s Animal Crusaders is also a finalist in television/documentary category of the competition.
The winners of the 55th annual New York Festivals International Television and Film awards were announced on April 17th at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas. The awards honor programming in all lengths and forms from over 50 countries. A jury of leading media professionals from around the world including Argentina, Ireland, Italy, UK, and Malaysia select winners in categories ranging from Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Feature Films, and Reality Shows.
Nepal: Children for Sale aired on Al Jazeera’s Kuala Lumpur based program 101 East in August 2011. Children for Sale investigates the lucrative business of international adoption services in Nepal. The show examines the large and complicated industry in the country, where it remains difficult to know whether children up for adoption are orphaned, abandoned, or are being trafficked.
“We are extremely proud to be honored by the New York Festival’s International Television and Film Awards. It’s exciting that the stories we are producing out of Asia are being recognized by prestigious U.S. institutions and drives us to continue to tell the stories from the region that aren’t being told,” said Sharon Roobol, Programme Editor of 101 East.
China’s Animal Crusaders chronicles the fight for animal rights in a country that has traditionally used animals for food and for traditional medicines. With no animal welfare laws except for wild animals, 101 East looked at how growing numbers of Chinese are using blogs, websites and the streets to protest against the mistreatment of animals.
Al Jazeera English is an international English language news channel with over 60 bureaus around the world. In the last year, the channel has won the Royal Television Society’s “News Channel of the Year” award, a 2012 Peabody award for its coverage of the Arab uprisings, a George Polk award for the film “Bahrain: Shouting in the Dark,” and an Alfred I. Dupont award for its film “Haiti: Six Months On.”