ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the eight winners of the Kazakhstan Through the Eyes of Foreign Media contest, reported the ministry’s press service on Aug. 4.
Photo credit: Foreign Ministry.
Journalists and bloggers from five continents presented their articles and content on Kazakhstan, published in newspapers, on popular online platforms, blogs, and podcasts, covering international relations, history, culture, tourism, education, investment potential, national cuisine, and other topics.
More than 70 journalists from 40 countries participated in the eighth annual contest, organized by the Foreign Ministry, Kazakhstan’s Chief Editors’ Club, Kazakh Tourism, and the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
This year’s jury included Roman Vassilenko, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Bibigul Zheksenbai, President of the Chief Editors’ Club, Talgat Amanbayev, Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Tourism, and Ambassador Doulat Kuanyshev, an expert in the CICA Military-Political Dimension.
The podcast series by the Canada Eurasia Chamber of Commerce, which covered higher education in Kazakhstan, the transformation of Kazakhstan’s mining industry, and the country’s investment attractiveness, was recognized as the best from the American region.
Among European countries, the entry of Spanish journalist Jose Puglisi was recognized as the best. His article, published in Periodista Digital, a widely-read platform in the Iberian Peninsula and across Latin America, focuses on Kazakhstan’s bolstering global standing.
A series of articles by Askar Yakubov published in Uzdaily.uz on cooperation between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan was selected as the winner among the entries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eurasian countries.
The Asia-Pacific region’s winner was Xuan Nguyen Phan Huong, a reporter for the national radio The Voice of Vietnam. Her works covered Kazakhstan’s history and the development of bilateral cooperation.
Among the entrants from the Middle East and Africa, the jury highly assessed the series of articles by Ethiopian reporter Gosaye Feyissa Nateyi. An important factor that influenced the jury’s decision is that Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is home to the headquarters of the African Union, which unites 54 countries of the continent.
The Kazakh Tourism nomination was awarded to Italian travel blogger Filippo Tenti for his documentary The World Through the Eyes of Overland, which showcased Kazakhstan’s culture and tourist destinations. It was aired on Italy’s main TV station, RAI, in January 2023.
This year, for the first time, a separate nomination from CICA was introduced to mark Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the organization.
The jury decided to award two journalists – Ravichandran Rajamanickam, international desk editor of Malaysia’s news agency Bernama, for his article Kazakhstan’s Unwavering Commitment in Promoting International Peace, Security, and Nargiz Mammadova for her article CICA: New Asia in a New World – a View from Azerbaijan.
The winners will have the opportunity to visit Kazakhstan this month as part of an organized trip to Astana, Almaty, and the East Kazakhstan Region.
The annual Kazakhstan Through the Eyes of Foreign Media contest, initiated in 2014, aims to promote global audiences’ interest in Kazakhstan’s current development trends, popularizing its rich natural and cultural heritage, as well as revealing its potential to attract foreign investors and tourists from all over the world.
