[Release by Screen Australia]
Screen Australia Digital Learning is delighted to announce that the educational website Mabo: The Native Title Revolution has won the prestigious 2008 United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award for Best Online Production.
Mabo: The Native Title Revolution website is an extensive online resource that explores a landmark in Australian history – the Mabo legal case – and the important issues it raises for Australians and Indigenous peoples everywhere.
The award judges, Justice Philip Cummins (of the Victorian Supreme Court) and Michael Smith (former editor of The Age), described the website as "a stunningly informative exposition of the issues surrounding this historic High Court decision. For anyone wanting to know about the finding, Eddie Mabo, colonisation, land rights and native title in Australia and elsewhere this is invaluable. The hundreds of animated audiovisual sequences, other images, photos, newspaper reports and court judgements add up to profoundly valuable use of online technology."
Mabo: The Native Title Revolution website was translated by Rob Wellington (Tantamount Productions) from the award-winning CD-ROM (created in 1998 by Trevor Graham, Cristina Pozzan and Rob Wellington), winner of the ATOM and AIMIA Awards in Australia and a UK BAFTA Interactive Award Finalist.
"By extending the original program to the online platform, this fabulous resource on Mabo and Native Title is now accessible to a wide audience," says Screen Australia Executive Producer Anna Grieve. "We are all delighted the project has been recognised by the United Nations for this prestigious award."
The winners were announced on Friday night at a presentation dinner in Melbourne, hosted by Kerry O’Brien of the ABC’s 7:30 Report. The Media Peace Awards seek to promote understanding and awareness about humanitarian and social justice issues by recognising journalists who stimulate public awareness and influence policy change.
Visit the Mabo: The Native Title Revolution website
For further information on the 2008 United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Awards visit the website: www.unaavictoria.org.au