Excellence and Innovation in Sweetpotato: Communication for Change Award

Through a generous endowment from Dr. Jan W. Low, a recipient of the World Food Prize in 2016, an annual prize has been established to recognize the best sweetpotato communication product.  This year is the first year the prize will be awarded for the best Communication Product produced in 2016 (January-December). The winner will receive an award of US$500. The award will be presented to the lead publisher and is intended to be split among the co-publishers.

The main criteria to assess submissions will be: originality, quality, appropriateness for key audiences, and the results of the communications product and/or its contribution towards the impact of your organization, program or project.

The deadline to receive applications is 28 August, 2017. The winner will be announced during the Sweetpotato for Profit and Health Initiative (SPHI) annual meeting, to be held from 24-27 September, 2017 in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania

Entry details

Please submit your entry to the chair of the committee, Holly Holmes at h.holmes@cgiar.org

Files must be submitted in the following formats:

• Video:  Files must be submitted as a link to stream the video, such as through YouTube, Vimeo or another video streaming service
• Image: JPEG, PNG
• Audio: MP3, WAV
• Document: PDF, PPT

All submissions must use the accompanying Entry Form, including a COVER LETTER and a maximum 800-word description of the communication product addressing some or all of the criteria outlined below.

Prize

One (1) prize will be awarded at the value of US$500.

Eligibility and Requirements

• • This competition is open to all individuals who work under the SPHI umbrella. This includes staff from: NARI’s, NGOs and private sector partners who work on sweetpotato as well as staff from the International Potato Center and other CGIAR Centers and Research Programs.  
  • The competition is open to the follow types of communications products, or a campaign consisting of the following products: Video, Image, Audio, PDF, PPT
  • The products may be about any type of sweetpotato, it is not restricted to orange-fleshed sweetpotato.
  • The products can be in any language; however an English translation must be provided. Entry forms must be written in English.
  • Teams or individuals may submit more than one entry.
  • By entering to this competition, participants agree to a creative commons attribution, which is a non-commercial share-alike license (BY-NC-SA) for their communication products. Competition organizers will promote the winning product on the Sweetpotato Knowledge Portal and other relevant websites. Practitioners and their respective organizations will be fully credited for their work.

Judging Panel

The committee responsible for selecting the best sweetpotato communication product consists of Holly Holmes (Communications Specialist, CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas); Sara Quinn (Communications Associate, CGIAR System Organization); and Cecilia Lafosse (Graphic Designer, International Potato Center).

Judging Criteria

The judging criteria is outlined in detail below. The competition encourages quality and innovation. In creating this prize, we wish to acknowledge and recognize the power of communications to reach target audiences and to change behavior.

Each submission will be judged out of a total of 100 points:

• 50 points for the communication product
• 50 points for the results achieved

Part 1
The communication product – 50 points

Criteria	Description	Score
Well-developed product	A high-quality communication product with Clear purpose High quality, original design and/or production	20 points
Tailored to key audience	Is the product tailored to its intended audience? Consider language, design, format.	20 points
Key messages	Are the key message/s clearly communicated in the product?	10 points

Part 2
Results achieved – 50 points

Criteria	Description	Score
Overall results or contribution towards the goals of your project/organization	How did the communication product create change, or contribute towards the results achieved by your project/organization?	20 points
Results	When was the product released? (Month/Year) What were the result/s of the product? How did you measure or evaluate this? Who did your product reach? Where they the intended audience?	20 points
Strategy	What was your strategy for developing and delivering the communication product? How did this contribute towards the end result?	10 points