The Population Institute each year honors excellence in media coverage of population issues and RH Reality Check is pleased to be recognized as the Best Electronic Forum in the 2007 Global Media Awards.

Everyone involved with RH Reality Check from our start in May 2006, shares in this recognition, because everyday since our launch we have asked: How can we do this better tomorrow? How can we find more readers for content coming from leaders in the field? How can we cover these issues differently? How can we be of more service and connect more ideas and people working on progressive sexual and reproductive health issues? How can we elevate these perspectives to the mainstream media and provide a truly global perspective of these most fundamental human issues?

That's the nature of new media/new journalism right now; there aren't many models to follow for niched publications such as ours. The platform we've built is more about involving community and connecting ideas than anything else, making progressive ideas readily accessible. Soon, our community will help answer these questions and others in an online survey. Please take time to fill it out when you see it.

What we know is that it is vitally important that progressives interested in sexual and reproductive health globally have a high caliber, interactive, online publication devoted to sharing diverse ideas, debunking the opposition, and telling stories that connect policy with people too busy to wade through the nuance.

So this recognition is for every person who has contributed their writing, ideas, vision, or commentary to RH Reality Check. It is recognition that progressive voices, no matter where you live or work, can come together and bring a vision of healing for women and men around the world with respect to sexual and reproductive health issues.

I would like to recognize the talent, vision and contributions of David Harwood and the UN Foundation; the collaboration of RH Reality Check staff Amie Newman, Emily Douglas, Brady Swenson, consultants Ellen Marshall and Amanda Marcotte and former staff Tyler LePard and Ian Cairns; and writers Andrea Lynch, Eesha Pandit, our eight Global Perspectives Writers and New Journalist Fellows, Lynda Waddington, Jeff Fecke and Wendy Norris. Built on a Drupal Platform, RH Reality Check acknowledges Development Seed for its web development skills.

RH Reality Check is honored to share the 2007 Global Media Award recognition with these other outstanding recipients, as detailed in the Population Institute press release:

Joel Pett, an editorial cartoonist who has been with the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader since 1984, will be recognized for a number of his cartoons on population issues that have appeared in hundreds of U.S. newspapers and magazines

MelClaire Sy Delfin, a television reporter with the Philippines’ GMA Network, Inc., has won in the category Best Individual Reporting, for two in-depth investigative reports, "The Forbidden Games Filipino Children Play," and "When Wells Run Dry: A Tragedy Looming Large."

Enie Cecile of Cameroon will receive the Best Electronic Commentary award for her show, "Social Forum," which raises awareness of a wide range of population and environmental issues including protecting the rights of indigenous people, exploration for potable water and ozone depletion.

Newsweek magazine science columnist Sharon Begley will be honored for Best Population/Environmental Reporting Effort for her article, "Global Warming Deniers: A Well-funded Effort," which appeared in the August 6, 2007 edition of the magazine. Her report underscores the preponderance of scientific evidence that human activity is the primary catalyst behind global warming.

"Youth Alert! Real Man/Real Woman," a music video special produced by the Behavior Change Communication (BCC) program of Malawi, is the winner in the Best Combined Media Effort category. The winning entry was launched as a mass media and interpersonal communications campaign to encourage Malawian youth to delay their sexual debut. BCC is operated by Population Services International and core funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Jim Motavalli, editor of the national environmental bimonthly, E Magazine, will receive the Best Magazine Article award for his comprehensive report showing that falling birth rates are not universal and that, while declining in industrialized countries, they remain high in many countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Inter Press Service (IPS), headquartered in Rome, Italy, will be cited as the Most Conscientious News Service for its news and analyses of events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of people and nations, including the consequences of high fertility in the world’s poorest countries.

RH Reality Check will receive the Best Electronic Forum award for its commitment to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. The web site is an easily accessible online resource for evidence-based information, provocative commentary and interactive dialogue on these issues.

Ben Merens, host of the Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network program, "At Issues with Ben Merens," will be recognized for the Best Radio Talk Show. The program is dedicated to in-depth examinations of current events and hard news through interviews with expert guests, policymakers, commentators and authors.

The Best Editorial Support award will be presented to The Sun of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for its support of population, environmental and development issues. An example is the April 18, 2007 editorial, "War against poverty shows some successes," which convincingly links overwhelming poverty in the southern hemisphere with rapid population.

Dr. Richard Grossman, a Colorado gynecologist and columnist for the Durango Herald, has been named Best Columnist for his provocative long-running "Population Matters" columns. His column, "Effects of poverty create the most haunting images of India," recounting his personal realization of the connection between leprosy and poverty is illustrative of his efforts to bring development and population issues to the attention of his readers.

The Population Media Center of Shelburne, Vermont, will be recognized as the Best Electronic Communications Service for its original entertainment-education television and radio dramas, featuring family planning, gender equality and reproductive health issues.

"These Global Media Award recipients have helped to create public awareness of population issues through their dedicated efforts," said Lawrence Smith, Jr., president of the Population Institute. "We are hoping that these awards will direct much-needed attention to the importance of reducing rapid human growth and achieving a world population in balance with a healthy global environment."