Anti-apartheid champion Nelson Mandela

Washington — Nearly 500 journalists writing about 108 countries vie to create the most compelling human rights stories in a competition celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The “Every Human Has Rights” media awards were inspired by The Elders, a group of respected leaders convened by Nelson Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize winner known the world over for his fight against apartheid in South Africa, and Graça Machel, an international advocate for women’s and children’s rights. Their partner is Internews, an international media development organization which has trained more than 70,000 people in media skills in more than 70 countries.

“Local journalists around the world play a key role in advancing human rights,” Annette Makino, Internews senior vice president for communications and external affairs, told America.gov. Local journalists, she said, “ask the hard questions of those in power. They give a voice to those who have been victims of human rights violations, and they inform and engage the public in working for human rights.”

The news media entries fell into categories including television, radio, print, Web journalism, citizen journalism/blog items and investigative reporting. There was even an online media report using Second Life simulation.

Mariane Pearl, widow of slain journalist Daniel Pearl.

The winning entries included reports on topics such as forced labor at a Nike shoe factory in Malaysia, a hospital in Malawi that transfused HIV-tainted blood to a 2-year-old child, immigrant crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border, refugee camps in Darfur, and Internet censorship.

The 30 winners were selected by an independent, international jury made up of experienced journalists and human rights activists and chaired by Jimmie Briggs, author of Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War and a U.N. goodwill ambassador.

Among the jury members was Mariane Pearl, widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was murdered in Pakistan in 2002 by Islamic extremists. A journalist and author herself, she said, “It was very inspiring to see how courageous journalists around the world are bringing human rights abuses to the light of day.”

The winners are flying to Paris to receive their awards December 6. Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Irish President Mary Robinson, who served as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002, will speak at the event.

Seven of the winners will receive special prizes, to be announced in Paris, that include an award for the best piece as determined by an online public vote, which attracted responses from more than 2,000 people. (Entries can be viewed at the media awards Web site.)

Of the 482 journalists who participated in the competition, Makino said, “We hope that they continue over the coming years, and that others are inspired by their example.”