Call for Submissions: Evens Prize for Media Education 2013

We are proud to announce that the call for the 3rd Evens Prize for Media Education, to be awarded in 2013, is now open. If you would like to apply, please read the “Call for Submissions” first and then fill in the “Application Form”. Deadline is 15th April 2013!

With this third Evens Prize for Media Education, to be awarded in 2013, the Evens Foundation continues to highlight the importance of Media Education and to support sustainable projects in this field in Europe. The aim of this prize is to stimulate efforts to increase the visual literacy of children between four and eight.

Every day we are exposed to hundreds of images. Although we’ve learned how to read and write texts, many of us never learned how to read or (de-)construct an image. However, being able to read the printed word only no longer suffices; we all need the capacity to read, analyze and interpret the constant flow of images that come to us through our multimedia culture.

The dangers are greatest for younger children, however, since they are generally the heaviest but least sophisticated viewers. By failing to help them develop media literacy skills that will allow them to analyze critically what they see, we allow their developing visions of themselves and the world to be controlled by remote entities whose values and visions we may not share. The purpose of media literacy is to empower young people to understand the mass media and how they work, so they can be in control of this important aspect of their lives.

Because the Evens Foundation wants to encourage media literacy training for young children, this third prize will be awarded to an ongoing European project that focuses on the enhancement of visual literacy of children between four and eight years old, directly or through their parents.