Category Archives: Award or Nomindation

30 September 2017 ~ The Write To End Violence Against Women Awards – Zero Tolerance – Submission Deadline

Recognising and Rewarding High Quality Violence Against Women Journalism

Violence against women is often in the news. Its prevalence in society makes it a ‘hot topic’ for reporters and its complex nature makes it an interesting issue for feature writers. However, the fact that violence against women is so complex can mean that even journalists with the best of intentions can misrepresent some of the issues and perpetuate myths that are harmful to women.

On the other hand, good reporting can play a vital role in increasing understanding of violence against women and challenging its place in our society. And many journalists and bloggers produce high quality work which confronts violence and gender inequality.

We believe that their hard work deserves to be recognised, which is why Zero Tolerance with the support of NUJ Scotland, White Ribbon Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid, Engender, Everyday Victim Blaming, Women 50:50, Rape Crisis Scotland, Women for Independence and the Scottish Refugee Council are pleased to present the fourth annual Write to End Violence award for excellence in journalism. We are also pleased to announce the Sunday Herald will be working with us as our media partner.

This award seeks to drive up standards in journalism by rewarding those committed to furthering the cause of gender equality through their work.  It is open to all those writing in Scotland, and there are categories open to both paid and unpaid writing.

We invite you to submit your writing, or someone else’s writing, for consideration in the 2017 awards.

This year is the fifth year that the Write to End Violence Against Women Awards will take place and as such we are deciding how the awards can best represent all the writing talent that is available in Scotland. We will confirm the categories in the coming months, but for now please submit any piece you believe deserves attention. Anyone may nominate their own writing, or an article written by someone else any of the categories.

To nominate or submit an entry, use the contact form at the foot of this page.

Please be sure to read the terms and conditions fully.

Alternatively, entries can be submitted by email to submissions (at) writetoendvaw.com. The deadline for entries is 30 September 2017.

More at https://writetoendvaw.com/how-to-enter/

May 4, 2017

Millicent Fawcett to be honoured with first statue of a woman in Parliament Square DCLG announces

A statue of Millicent Fawcett, one of the leading figures in the campaign to win women the vote, is to be erected in Parliament Square

A statue of Millicent Fawcett, one of the leading figures in the campaign to win women the vote, is to be erected in Parliament Square – making her the first-ever woman to be honoured in this way.

As president of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, GBE, led the peaceful campaign for women’s suffrage. She also campaigned for women’s rights in many other areas, including access to higher education.

The statue will form part of celebrations to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which was introduced thanks to Fawcett’s campaigning and which first gave some women the right to vote. Full equality at the ballot box was not achieved until a decade later, just a year before Fawcett’s death.

The statue will be funded from the £5 million fund provided at the Spring Budget to support projects marking the anniversary.

Part of a longer press release at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/millicent-fawcett-to-be-honoured-with-first-statue-of-a-woman-in-parliament-square

April 19, 2017

Tampon Tax Fund Awards March 2017 – Department of Culture Media and Sport

Seventy organisations across the country will share £12 million from the Tampon Tax Fund, helping to improve the lives of disadvantaged women and girls across the country.

The full list was announced on 30 March 2017 of the latest round of the Tampon Tax Fund designed to benefit charities that support women and girls, particularly those affected by violence and domestic abuse.

Some of the charities receiving funding include:

  • Children North East £88,939. The funding will be used to support a peer mentoring service for vulnerable young girls who are affected by, or at risk of violence or abuse.
  • Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre Cornwall £179,157. This money will be used to support relationships with isolated, hard to reach survivors of sexual violence and abuse.
  • Black Country Women’s Aid £240,401. This will be used to fund a pilot project to develop the first specialist support service for victims of stalking.
  • Stepping Stones, Luton £262,614. This money will ensure access to specialist support for 300 vulnerable women facing domestic and sexual abuse.
  • Suzy Lamplugh Trust, London £200,000. This funding will help increase the organisation’s casework support service for women who are being stalked.

Notes

  1. See the full list (MS Word Document, 24.3KB) of 70 organisations set to benefit from the latest round of funding.
  2. This latest funding brings the total of investment awarded from the Tampon Tax Fund to £15m in 2016 / 17.
  3. The government is committed to continuing the fund until EU rules allow a zero rate of VAT to be applied to women’s sanitary products. A decision will be made on the future of the Fund once this has been achieved. Current EU laws prohibits any Member State from applying a new zero rate of VAT. We therefore currently apply the lowest rate we can to these products (5%).

Part of a longer press release at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/charities-across-the-uk-benefit-from-tampon-tax-fund

March 31, 2017

Time to recognise 100 suffrage pioneers – Nominations sought – Women’s Local Government Society

The centenary of property-owning women, over 30 years of age and all men receiving the vote will be celebrated in 2018. Shouldn’t we now be acknowledging those pioneers, ordinary people who did extraordinary things, to further the struggle to gain the vote? It was these people who helped highlight the opportunity for ALL women to participate in democracy by uncovering the achievements of those who both fought for the Representation of the People Act 1918 and then went on to participate in the opportunities it created.

The Women’s Local Government Society (WLGS) working with Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC), the Local Government Association (LGA), the National Association of Civic Officers (NACO), Civic Voice and Vote100 have come together to seek 100 pioneers who were suffragists across the country and who deserve to be recognised.

This could be your grandmother, aunt, or other family member. If so let us have some information about them and perhaps they will become one of those 100 pioneers we wish to recognise.

Fill out a nomination form here

The Project

The aim of the project is to identify and celebrate the lives of 100 previously hidden women and supportive men who were active in the campaign for votes, leading to the Representation of the People Act 1918, and who used the extended rights to citizenship in a positive way locally.

We want to include women and men from all walks of life and from all corners of the country. Those women and men who worked tirelessly in suffrage campaigns and also made use of enhanced opportunities, such as serving as elected councillors, magistrates, joining local committees or leading new local organisations.

There are two phases to the project (in 2017 and 2018 respectively):

Phase 1: Identification of the suffrage pioneers will last from March to December 2017 and invites submissions of nominations of local suffrage pioneers. This includes Step 1: the nomination. There is a form for completion online or for printing off and sending to us by post. (Nominations close in October)

Phase 2: Development of local history and legacy projects will last from January to January 2019. This includes Step 2: the focus on the local pioneer and Step 3: the next generation (the legacy project).

Phase 2 of the project aims to engage local councils, communities, schools, voluntary organisations, Women’s Institutes, archives etc to work together to research and celebrate the lives of ordinary people who did extraordinary things to win the vote for women and who then went on to use their new political voice to improve things in their communities. Projects should involve the local community in finding out more about and then celebrating the lives of the suffrage pioneers concerned. We would like to see exhibitions, lectures, discussions, plays, concerts and displays in prominent places that bring all ages and communities together.

In Step 3, we want the process of identifying those suffrage pioneers from history to generate interest in the legacy of the project by developing local citizenship in the twenty-first century. We would like the next generation to be involved in every project. We will draw on local activities to focus on our national and local history around suffrage pioneers to link to our continuing efforts to recruit more women as councillors and see them in leading civic roles today.

BORN IN 2000

In order to help involve the next generation of voters, we would like each project to enlist at least one woman who was born in 2000, who will be voting for the first time in 2018 or 2019 and who are inspired by the local suffrage pioneer’s story. The first time voter(s) would adopt their local pioneer and help promote their life story.

After sharing the stories of those pioneers in 2018, we would like each local project to work with the next generation to encourage future citizenship, whether by encouraging them to vote, buddying new young local government candidates, supporting children who are on their school council or youth parliament and exploring other ways they could be involved in civic life and in community groups and voluntary organisations.

Part of the local legacy should also involve a local lasting commemoration of each of the nominated suffrage pioneers. This could be a tree planting, the creation of a rose garden, the installation of a named plaque on a suitable building or a named bench, or perhaps even a new statue, or a room, building or road named after her or him.

Phase 2 will also include a special national focus on 100 pioneers who will be selected for commemoration, out of which ten will be selected for a national celebration at the culmination of the project in October 2018.

Check for updates at http://www.suffrage-pioneers.net/the-project/

March 17, 2017