The IAEA is soliciting ideas from students and early career professionals on how to communicate on nuclear and radiological emergencies. The competition to collect innovative ideas is open for submissions until 15 June.
The following questions are at the core of the IAEA Young Innovative Communicators Competition:
- How can communication support nuclear or radiological emergency response in a way that is innovative and efficient?
- How should communication be shaped to prevent panic, minimize rumours, and maintain public trust?
Students and young professionals aged 18-25 in areas such as crisis communication, communication strategy development, emergency response, social media management, outreach, public and internal communication and more are welcome to submit innovative ideas that address challenges in nuclear and radiological emergency communication.
Each submission should include a description of the concept (maximum 1000 words) and information about the participant, provided as a PDF file. Official guidelines and submission forms are available here.
The competition finale will be held during the 1-5 October 2018 IAEA International Symposium on Communicating Nuclear and Radiological Emergencies to the Public. The symposium will bring together nuclear emergency communication experts, government public officials and media professionals for discussions on how to improve communication during a nuclear and radiological emergency. Competition finalists will present their ideas during a symposium session dedicated to youth, and a panel of experts will select a top winner.
“We hope to gather new ideas from youth on how to produce the right and timely messages during a nuclear emergency and disseminate them using relevant channels, whether it be social media, digital applications, multimedia or others,” said Jason Cameron, Symposium Chair and Vice-President and Chief Communications Officer at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. “We hope for unique and thought-provoking ideas. The voice of the youth is vital in the global discussion and decision-makers taking part in the symposium will be keen to discuss communication challenges with the finalists.”
The IAEA will cover travel to the symposium in Vienna, Austria, and provide daily subsistence allowance of the five finalists. Entries must be submitted by 11:59pm, Vienna Time on 15 June. For questions regarding the competition, please contact the organizers.