The HEC Montréal International Center for Media and Society (ICMS) Launches
the Global Media Peace Awards 2026

A Commitment to the Peaceful Future

Promoting peace through media

At a time when conflicts around the world are increasingly complex, interconnected, and prolonged, there is a growing need for media content that deepens public understanding, provides context, and examines pathways toward prevention and resolution. Only through such coverage can the intensity and horror of conflicts lead to improved understanding and meaningful change.

In response, HEC Montréal, in partnership with global organisations, presents the 3rd Global Media Peace Awards on Conflict Prevention and Conflict Resolution. The Awards recognise and celebrate media content that explains the causes, differing perspectives, consequences and solutions – contributing to improved understanding, greater empathy and agency among audiences.

Join this peace movement. Submit your news stories and programs, spark dialogue, and help build a more just and harmonious world.

Legitimacy for a business school is related to its ability to build responsible leadership, serving social needs and contributing to a balanced society. HEC Montreal has a long tradition of service to the community. To maintain our ability to educate leading professionals, concerned about societal well-being, and willing to strengthen such a tradition, none of the World problems are foreign to us.

In particular, the media holds a powerful role in shaping how conflicts emerge, evolve, and resolve. In a world where tensions threaten the well-being of human beings, responsible journalism and media management can help prevent escalation, counter misinformation, and strengthen mutual understanding. Too often, media can become a party to conflict, but it also has the capacity to shift narratives toward empathy, inclusion, and dialogue.

From a Canadian perspective, where we celebrate diversity, media serves as a vital platform to amplify diverse voices and promote peaceful coexistence. By choosing accuracy, fairness, and humanity, it can actively contribute to conflict prevention and conflict resolution, while also advocating for a shift in global priorities, from funding wars and conflicts to investing in children and families and bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

As we mark the 3rd edition of the Global Media Peace Award in 2026, this is a call for all media professionals and citizens to use their influence responsibly and help build a more peaceful, just, and inclusive world.

Professor Fédérico Pasin,

Director General, HEC Montréal

Like many across the globe, we had hoped for a peaceful 2026. Instead, conflicts intensified across Asia, Europe, and Africa, continuing global instability. Wars have dominated lives, diverting resources that could have supported education, public health, poverty alleviation, culture, and social development toward destruction and loss. Countless innocent civilians, women and children among them have suffered, with hundreds of thousands of lives lost and millions displaced. Though people everywhere continue to call for peace and humanity, these voices too often go unheard.

Media professionals have both the power and the responsibility to raise public awareness, investigate deeply, and report fairly on the root causes of conflict. Responsible, investigative storytelling can inform, engage, and mobilize societies toward justice and peace. At the same time, building a strong, peace-driven media network is essential to amplify these efforts and collectively advocate for stability and human dignity. The Global Media Peace Awards is a call to action for broadcasters, media professionals, and citizens to use their cameras and platforms to capture and elevate voices demanding peace and prosperity. It is an opportunity to meet the challenges of our time and contribute to change at community, national, and international levels.

We invite radio and television broadcasters, digital media professionals, citizens both public and private as well as NGOs and activists to join this movement and constructive dialogue by submitting programs on conflict prevention and conflict resolution to HEC Montréal.

Javad Mottaghi, Ph.D, B.Eng.

Adjunct Professor | Department of International Business

Awards Categories

There are three categories

Radio
Television
Digital Media

The Awards are presented to the best radio, video/television and digital programs/ contents/ stories focused on conflict prevention and resolution, with the intent of encouraging high-quality and engaging content production.

The accepted media genres in this competition are documentary, reportage, and docudrama. News programs radio drama, animation and AI production will also be accepted. The message of the story/ program should be on conflict prevention or conflict resolution.

The award criteria for each category are:

Accuracy
Relevance
Impartiality
Audience engagement
Production quality
Solutions oriented
Innovation

Three cash prizes will be awarded in each of the
following 3 categories:

Radio awards

1st Award: C$ 3,500

2nd Award: C$ 1,500

3rd Award: C$ 1,000

Television awards

1st Award: C$ 3,500

2nd Award: C$ 1,500

3rd Award: C$ 1,000

Digital media awards

1st Award: C$ 3,500

2nd Award: C$ 1,500

3rd Award: C$ 1,000

Eligibility

The Awards are open to all public and private media organisations. The Awards are also open to individual content producers and freelancers.

All radio, TV and digital media programs produced or co-produced in any country and broadcast between 15 May 2024, and September 21, 2026, are eligible for entry to these awards. The programs will be accepted in the competition only once. Individual producers, directors and freelancers can participate without having any broadcast network and affiliation to a broadcast network.

Each participant can submit one (1) entry, in Radio, one (1) entry, in Television and one (1) entry in Digital Media including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, AI, etc., categories, either reportage, documentary, news story, animation, AI generated content or docudrama, of a duration between a few seconds to a maximum duration of 52 minutes.

Digital Media includes online articles and social media posts including video programs ‘Entries in the digital media category must contain multiple different digital executions of the subject across various platforms. There must be work that is from at least two of the following media platforms: Radio/Television, OTT Video platforms (shorts, online miniseries, etc.), podcasts, social posts, news posts, multimedia website reports (containing text, video, audio, embedded socials, public comments, etc.), specialist websites or microsites.’

Entries must be free from any political propaganda or intentional commercial advertising. Entries may include content produced using Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, all entries must disclose any use of AI-generated or AI-assisted content both at the point of submission and clearly within the content itself; failure to declare such use may result in disqualification.

Entries that incorporate dramatized or narrative techniques, including docudrama formats, may be eligible where the work is based on rigorous research, reflects the essential truth of events, and clearly signals any reconstruction or creative interpretation.

A program made in co-production by two or more organisations may only be entered in the competition by one of the co-producing organisations, based on a written agreement with the co-producers.

About the registration

The Programs competing for the Global Media Peace Awards should be registered in the competition by filling in the registration form.

Each applicant must submit

1- their radio, television, or digital media program(s) in MP3, MP4 and WAV format, in the original language,

2- In Single document, entrants must include the following information in English or French:

A synopsis (maximum 100 words)
A script
Name and biography of the content producer/s (maximum 100 words)
Platforms on which work is available:

All entries, together with the filled-in registration form, must be submitted by WeTransfer or any other possible option to the HEC Montréal Awards Secretariat before September 21, 2026, at the following e-mail address:

international-peace-awards@hec.ca

By entering the Program(s) in the competition, participants shall guarantee that the Program(s) design and production comply with applicable law, especially copyright law. By registering under these Awards, participants declare and guarantee that they are the exclusive owners and/or have the exclusive availability of all exploitation rights of the Program(s), also in the name and on behalf of any third-party owners.

No registration fee is required– HEC Montreal and Pale Bleu Dot Foundation- Japan Media Peace Awards competition does not require registration fees from the participating organisations.

Aims and Goals

Position media as a central force in conflict prevention/ resolution
Promote the media’s role in improving understanding about conflict prevention/ resolution
Highlight the importance of human-centered storytelling and explaining different perspectives.
Help audiences become informed agents of change, enabling them to contribute meaningfully to peace building initiatives.
Encourage journalists, news reports, producers and citizens to promote peace through innovative media programs highlighting the significance of peace keeping, conflict prevention / resolution.
Inspire the public, the young generation in particular, about the importance of peace-making, mutual understanding, commitment to preventing crises and solidarity for resolving conflicts to safeguard our planet.

At a time when the world is witnessing prolonged and devastating conflicts from the war in Ukraine to the continuing violence in the Middle East, the role of responsible media has become more critical than ever. In these regions and beyond, journalists and media organizations are working under extraordinary pressure to document realities that are often complex, contested, and deeply human. The Global Media Peace Awards 2026 will honor those who go beyond reporting events to illuminate context, uphold truth, and give voice to those affected by conflict. Their work helps the global community to better understand not only what is happening, but why it matters, and how pathways toward peace might still be found.

As Johan Galtung reminded us, peace is not simply the absence of war, but the presence of conditions that foster dignity, justice, and dialogue. In today’s fragmented environment, ethical and thoughtful journalism plays a vital role in nurturing these conditions. We recognize with deep respect the courage and integrity of media professionals who continue their work in conflict zones, often at great personal risk. By shedding light on both suffering and resilience, they contribute to a shared understanding that is essential for peace. In honoring their contributions, we reaffirm our belief that even amid division and conflict, informed dialogue remains possible, and that media, at its best, can help guide us toward a more peaceful world.

— Shigeru Aoyagi

Founder and Director General, Pale Bleu Dot Foundation, Japan - Former UNESCO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific

The Jury for all categories shall be formed of ten members or more. The Jury members are invited by the Award organizers at their discretion, taking into account their recognized media expertise, balanced representation and other criteria considered relevant. The Jury shall be presided by a chairperson, appointed by the organizers, among the renowned experts with whom they collaborate. If an organisation enters a program in the competition and there is a member of the Jury that is linked to that organisation, they will not vote on that program

Jury members

Chairperson: Kyung Hee Kim, Executive Producer of KBS Radio’s Hanminjok Channel
Flavia Voinea, Journalist, Manager of Bucharest FM Radio Romania Regional Network
Nguyen Thuy Hoa, Director, International Cooperation Department, The Voice of Vietnam
Rita El Roumi, Director of Radio Programming at Radio Liban – Lebanon
François Xavier THIAW, Director of Radio RTS, Senegal
Colleen Holder, Dir. Corp. Comms. & Productions, Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago
Giulia Giovannelli, Head of Institutional and Social Communication – RAI Radio
Yasser Garrana, Advisor to ASBU Director General on Radio Affaires and former Head of ASBU Radio, Arab States Broadcasting Union
Wenny Zulianti, Head of Radio Republik Indonesia Meulaboh, Aceh, Indonesia
Stevenson LIU, Head of Content, Vanuatu Broadcasting Television Corporation – VBTC
Bilal Khan, Senior Producer Controller PBC – Pakistan
Yuliia Sheludko, Executive Producer, Ukrainian Radio, National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine

Chairperson: Deborah Steele, former Director of ABU News, Chair of the World Broadcasting Union’s News Committee & a former Head of Asia Pacific News at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Akhtar Viqar Azim, former Managing Director of Pakistan Television
John Maguire, former Director of International Relations & Cooperation, France Médias Monde
Berthe Mbala, Director of Programs & Programming at Cameroon Radio and Television
Salah Sayoud, Assistant Director-General Communication & External Relations EPTV –Algerian Public Television
Jean Hur, Director of TV Format Sales & International Relations at Global Business Dept. Of Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. MBC, Korea Seoul
Abdul Rahman Panjshiri, former Head of Planning & External Relations at National, Radio & Television of Afghanistan
Moneeza Hashmi, Trustee Faiz Foundation – former Director of PTV Programs
Peter Herbert, Program Convenor & Head of Screen Business at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School
Sharon Roobol, Executive Producer of 101 East, Al Jazeera Media Network
Feten Fradi, Head of the Arab & International Unit at ASBU – Arab States Broadcasting Union
Taualogomai Roebeck, Production Manager for TV1 Samoa, Broadcasting Corporation
Stefan Onica, Head of TVR Digital News, Romanian TV
Teresa Paoli, A Journalist, Director and award winner – Rai – Italy

Co- Chairperson- Wendy Everett, Journalist – Leading Her Own Media Consultancy in Australia and

former Director ABU News

Co-Chairperson – Steve Ahern, Former Manager of ABC Radio Sydney and Former Director of

ABU Media Academy

Giles Trendle, Co-Chair of the steering committee of Covering Climate Now, Former Managing Director

of Al Jazeera English

Asun Gomez Bueno, Director, International Relations Radio Television Española
Mayank Agarwal Pro-Vice Chancellor University of Patanjali, Haridwar, & Former CEO Prasar Bharati, India
Dr. Riyadh Najm, Former President, Saudi General Authority for Media Regulations & Former ASBU President
Luca Dambrosio, Multimedia Programmer Analysis and Scouting of New Digital Products and Formats,

Rai – Italy

Alan Williams, Former Director, ABU News
Mohammad Tamjidi, Senior Broadcaster and Professor IRIB University
Nouzab Fareed; Former Deputy Chairman & Executive Director for Fiji Television Ltd
Dr. Kenny Kihyung, BAE; President K-Content Academy Forum, & Senior Producer Content Business

Dept. KBS Korea

Dr. Farooq Haidar, Controller of Programmes, PTV – Pakistan
Aliyu Rabe, Assistant Chief Information and Communication Officer Federal University of Transportation

Daura, Katsina State, Nigeria.