The result of this year’s I Am the Media contest are in. For the third year in a row [Year 1 and Year 2 here], the Media Initiatives Center (MIC) [also responsible for this site] created the opportunity for young students to talk about the issues and role of the media through essays.

This year’s competition had two new rubrics: Verified: My Data Verification Formula and In the Information Web of Social Networking Sites.

“I’m not actively engaged in journalism, but I’ve noticed shortcomings in the industry, mainly connected to people’s media (non-)literacy. In my essay, I addressed the issue with examples, identified websites that are unreliable in my experience, advised my close friends not to trust many sources, and to think before sharing a media story,” says first-place winner, Yerevan State University (YSU) Faculty of Journalism student Viktoria Markosyan. 

She admits that she quickly gathered her thoughts and applied on the last day of the contest deadline, not expecting a victory. “When during the award ceremony jury members were talking about errors, I realized that I had allowed small mistakes in my work. In the future, I need to be more attentive in my written work.”

Second-place winner Arpi Janyan studies at the American University of Armenia (AUA) Faculty of Business Administration. She writes pieces for the university newspaper, also turning her attention to the problems of the media. “We often encounter false information, especially during the April War last year. During that period I understood the importance of media literacy. Through our everyday work, we try to understand to what extent the media influences people, to what extent are people created by the media.”

This year, 22 applications were submitted to the I Am the Media contest from 10 universities in Yerevan and the regions, of which only 6 were from faculties of journalism.

“This indicator makes us happy; it means that not only journalists are thinking about the good and bad aspects of the media, about its influence. The goal of our initiative is just that: to encourage media consumers to be more active, be more attentive, and have greater participation in the developments of the field,” said head of MIC’s media literacy program Lusine Grigoryan.

The jury comprised of journalism lecturers and news editors, while encouraging the best submissions, also noticed problems: the language of the essays was not developed and there were frequent mistakes. They advised applicants to be more attentive next time and carefully read their work several times before submitting.

Apart from the two award winners, two essay authors received honors of distinction. The complete list of award winners is as follows:

• First place: Viktoria Markosyan (YSU, Faculty of Journalism)
• Second place: Arpi Janyan (AUA, Faculty of Business Administration)
• Third place: Luiza Vardanyan (AUA, Faculty of English and Communications)
• Honors of Distinction: Arpine Arakelyan (YSU, Faculty of Law), Tatevik Arustamyan (Armenian State University of Economics, Faculty of Regulation of Economy and International Economic Relations)

The winners received gift cards, with the opportunity to acquire books and training packages, while the author of the best submission received tuition reimbursement in the amount of 100 thousand AMD (about US$200). The winners’ works will be published on Media.am, where the best essays from the previous two contests are also available.

I Am the Media contest this year was organized together with the Czech company Transitions (TOL). According to Lusine Grigoryan, as a result of this collaboration, in the new school year students will have the chance also to participate in lectures and meetings on the subject of verifying false information.

The contest was supported by USAID, as well as International Visegrad Fund and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Gayane Asryan

Photos by Gagik Aghbalyan,
Hakob Hovhannisyan