The MILID Summer School 2013 held in Barcelona concluded on Friday, June 23 with the presentation of the Young Journalists´ Platform and the consolidation of the UNESCO Young Journalists´ Network.
Knowledge sharing, collaborative production of content, dialogue between different cultures and new alliances and friendship have been the main results of this meeting that has welcomed young people from all continents.
Students were divided into production teams and presented their work during the closing session after having shared their experiences and learning opportunities at the summer school.
At the panel of the closing ceremony sat professor Azza Ahmed Heikal, Dean of the Faculty of Language and Communication at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport; Samy Tayie, José Manuel Pérez Tornero and Santiago Tejedor, organizers of the school and Laura Cervi, coordinator of the MILID Summer School, who bestowed awards to the most outstanding participants.
Some young journalists highlighted how valuable the summer school had been since it haad given them an opportunity to meet people belonging to other contexts and to discuss and learn about other cultures. Among them was Qatari student Romeya Mubarak Al Mansoori, who only 16 and being the youngest of the group, said that “I will remember this experience for the rest of my life.”
During the closure, the UNESCO Young Journalists´ Network presented the Young Journalists´ Platform.
More than fifty students from different continents worked on creating content for this new platform, which addresses international issues from the perspective of young journalists.
Organized in radio, website, television and press working teams, students produced several pieces of information, interviews, debates, reportages on politics, culture and issues of interest to the network itself.
Among the issues dealt with in this first week of production were freedom of expression and social movements (much debated during the plenary sessions of the MILID Summer School), and violence in sports.
The platform is open to members of the network, as well as to young journalists who want to participate in the project.
The content production process meant a great deal of commitment and cooperative group working among young people from different origins, cultures, languages, genders, and prior knowledge and experiences.
Follow these links if you want to know more about:
Young Journalists´ Platform http://www.youngjournalists.org/index.php/en/
MILID Summer School 2013: http://summercampus2013eng.wordpress.com/