( Added: June 8, 2009 ) - Internews (http://www.internews.org), the global media assistance organization, opened the Earth Journalism Awards on World Environment Day (http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/) today, calling on professional and citizen journalists around the world to enter their best reporting on climate change. Winners will be flown to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (http://unfccc.int/2860.php) in Copenhagen this December, where they will cover these pivotal negotiations for their home media and be honored at a high-profile awards ceremony.

Internews (http://www.internews.org) established the Earth Journalism Awards this year to encourage and celebrate the best coverage of climate change and the Copenhagen agenda.

"It is very important to deepen public understanding of climate change and the urgent need for an agreement in Copenhagen. The media has a vital role to play both in explaining what is required for the world to be able to make a dramatic shift towards a low carbon society and to be able to adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change. I welcome, therefore, the Earth Journalism Awards initiative," said Yvo de Boer, the Executive Director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, http://unfccc.int/2860.php) from the ongoing Bonn Climate Change Talks.

Fourteen awards are now open:

--Seven Regional Awards on current affairs and news reporting on climate change: Eurasia, South Asia, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, and North America, Europe & Australia.

--Six Thematic Awards: The Negotiations Award, The Human Voices Award, The Energy Award, The Forests Award, The Climate Change and Nature Award, The Climate Change Adaptation Award.

--The 14th award - the Global Public Award - will be chosen by the public, which will be invited to vote online for the best story drawn from the winning regional and thematic awards through a social networking campaign on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

An additional thematic award - The MTV Positive Change Award - opens from June 22, 2009.

"Accurate, understandable reporting on climate change is essential in order to engage the public and their leaders to work for the best policy solutions," said James Fahn, the Director of Internews' Earth Journalism Network (http://awards.earthjournalism.org). "Particularly in the developing world, where most of the impact of climate change is being felt, citizens have an urgent need to understand what is at stake at Copenhagen and beyond, and local media are the key to this understanding."

Details of the awards are available at http://awards.earthjournalism.org, where journalists can now register and upload their entries until September 7, 2009.