ITV

Tag: Gregory J. Osberg

  • 2007 version of BBC World Challenge announced

    2007 version of BBC World Challenge announced

    NEW DELHI: BBC World today announced the forthcoming opening of nominations for one of the world’s most exciting business and community project awards.

    World Challenge 2007 seeks to identify and reward people that bring economic, social and environmental benefits to their local communities, a release from the broadcaster says.

    The 24-hour international news and information television channel, BBC World, Newsweek and Shell have teamed up again for World Challenge 2007 and are searching for individuals or groups that have implemented grassroots solutions to the toughest problems of our age, from poverty to pollution.

    Nominations for the competition open on February 5 and companies, communities and enterprising individuals around the globe with projects are encouraged to enter by registering on the World Challenge 2007 website at www.theworldchallenge.co.uk.

    Once nominations close at the end of April, a panel of expert judges will shortlist the 12 entries that they consider are the best in terms of showing innovation and bringing economic, social and environmental benefits to their local community.

    After voting has closed, the winner of World Challenge 2007 will be announced at an awards ceremony in The Hague in December 2007.

    The winner will again receive a US$20,000 grant from Shell to invest in their project, plus the two runners-up will each receive US$10,000. The Awards Ceremony will be shown on BBC World in December.

    BBC World will produce six 30-minute programmes profiling the 12 finalists showing how their projects and businesses are changing lives. These programmes will be broadcast to BBC World’s global audience in October and November 2007, and the channel’s viewers will be invited to vote online for their favourite project or business.

    World Challenge, which began in 2005, has already inspired passion and commitment throughout the world and propelled enterprising projects and businesses into the spotlight. Since its inception, financial grants have been given to six projects from across the world and the competition has experienced phenomenal growth.

    In 2006, the World Challenge received 816 nominations compared with 500 nominations the year before.

    Maximus, a firm in Sri Lanka which supports a local elephant orphanage and provides sustainable employment by making paper out of elephant dung, won World Challenge 2006.

    Coconets from the Philippines, had won the 2005 competition for its landslide prevention system using waste coconut husks.

    Richard Sambrook, CEO BBC World, says: “The enthusiastic response to the World Challenge and the increase in the number of nominations each year is testament to this successful and inspirational project. We are delighted to again be working with Shell and Newsweek on World Challenge 2007.”

    Roxanne Decyk, Director, Corporate Affairs, Shell says: “Shell is proud to continue its association with this exciting and inspirational event. It is rewarding to witness the benefits that the World Challenge has brought to previous finalists, whether through profile-raising or through our financial assistance.”

    Newsweek will mirror the programmes’ content in a six-part series of advertorials on the 12 nominees, aimed at driving its readers to the online voting site. The campaign will reach 1.5 million weekly readers across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

    Gregory J. Osberg, Executive Vice President and Worldwide Publisher of Newsweek, adds: “Now in its third successful year, World Challenge rewards innovators who are implementing community-based solutions to some of the toughest problems of our age, from poverty to pollution. Along with partners Shell and BBC World, we are honoured to use Newsweek’s global reach to seek out inspiring projects that are helping people and the planet.”

  • Sri Lankan firm triumphs in BCC World’s competition

    Sri Lankan firm triumphs in BCC World’s competition

    MUMBAI: A Sri Lankan firm which transforms elephant dung into eco-friendly paper, has won BBC World challenge 2006. This rewards businesses and projects that put something back into their communities.

    ‘Maximus’, based in Kegalle at the foothills of Sri Lanka’s central mountainous region, beat more than 800 other projects from 120 countries to win World Challenge 2006 and a US$20,000 grant from Shell. The company uses a range of unusual products, including elephant dung and bark from banana trees, to create a line of papyrus-like paper.

    The notion’s far from quixotic. Sri Lanka is home to some 3,000 elephants, whose numbers are dwindling – due to poaching and conflict with farmers, who view them as very hungry pests.

    To change that view, ‘Maximus’ created its “Peace Paper” scheme, which hires rural people to collect elephant dung, providing a financial incentive that helps reduce poverty and build tolerance. When cleaned, pulped and pressed, cellulose-rich elephant dung creates a beautifully textured, papyrus-like paper.

    Part of the company’s profits goes back to the local elephant orphanage. More than 33,000 people around the world voted online in the World Challenge 2006 competition – run by BBC World and Newsweek, the weekly global current affairs magazine, in association with Shell. The competition searches for, highlights and rewards individuals or groups that have used enterprise and innovation to the benefit of local communities.

    ‘Maximus’ was voted as the winner while the two runners-up, which each received US$10,000, were ‘Cards from Africa’ in Rwanda and ‘NGO Dalit’ from Bangladesh.

    The three companies were presented with their prizes at a special awards ceremony, filmed by BBC World, in The Hague. The World Challenge 2006 Awards ceremony will be shown on BBC World on 16 and 17 December.

    BBC World Challenge began in 2005. BBC World, Newsweek and Shell have continued and expanded the competition into 2006. Nominations for the 2006 competition closed on 7 June. 816 nominations were received – a 79 per cent increase on last year’s nominations of 457.

    This year’s competition attracted the greatest numbers of nominees from India (159), Philippines (56), Nigeria (47), USA (34), Kenya (32), South Africa (32), England (20) and Uganda (20).

    12 finalists were chosen by a panel of expert judges as the best examples of community-based business, development or environmental projects. Their stories featured on BBC World globally in October and November 2006 and the channel’s 65 million weekly viewers were then invited to vote online for the most commendable and inspirational project.

    Newsweek also mirrored the programmes’ content in a six-part series of advertorials about the 12 nominees, aimed at driving its readers to the online voting site. The campaign reached 1.5 million weekly readers across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

    BBC World CEO Richard Sambrook says, “I have been amazed by the huge number of entries we’ve received for the World Challenge 2006, and equally inspired at the quality and diversity of the projects. This competition has again been extraordinarily successful, capturing the imagination – and the votes – of many thousands of BBC World viewers around the globe. We are delighted to be involved with such an inspiring project for the second year running and extend our congratulations to Maximus.”

    Newsweek executive VP and worldwide publisher Gregory J. Osberg says, “World Challenge 2006 is about getting involved and making a difference at a grass roots level. Now in its second successful year, this global competition provides a forum for rewarding innovators who are actively seeking solutions to problems like poverty, hunger and pollution in the communities in which they live. Newsweek congratulates this year’s winner, Maxim