2015 Social Media Awards: Malaria Heroes

The 2015 Social Media Awards is being organised under the theme 'Malaria Heroes' to recognise individuals who use social media (in this case Facebook or Twitter) to promote and showcase the global fight against malaria. The Social Media Awards were created to recognise and promote the use of social media in global health, considering that these platforms can help to engage wider audiences in information sharing, dialogue, knowledge creation, and collaborative action on priority issues. According to the organisers, Inis Communications, the malaria theme was chosen for 2015 to "strengthen the malaria community across countries, sectors and specializations, because to reach our vision of a malaria-free world, we must rise together to #defeatmalaria."

Awards are being offered in the following categories:

• Regional malaria champion: Africa - "90% of the world’s malaria occurs in African countries. From advocates and activists, to scientists, health workers and those in between, this category recognises outstanding individuals who use social media to effectively engage their peers and other stakeholders, and showcase the needs and achievements in the fight against malaria in the region. "
• Regional malaria champion: Asia Pacific - "Asia Pacific countries are embarking on the realization of a historic commitment to eliminate malaria from the entire region by 2030. This will require the coordinated actions of policy-makers and advocates, researchers, health workers and the whole of society. This award category highlights the individuals across the Asia Pacific region who use social media most effectively to promote the elimination goal and showcase the excellent work of the anti-malaria campaign."
• Regional malaria champion: Latin America - "Most Latin American countries have met the Millennium Development Goal for 2015 of reducing the number of diagnosed cases by 75%, and six countries have entered the pre-elimination phase. The progress is promising and elimination is within reach with the combined efforts of advocates and activists, researchers, health workers and those in between. This category award recognizes the individuals who use social media most effectively to promote progress towards malaria elimination and showcase the work that is happening to achieve this goal."
• Young Leader: "New perspectives, ideas and idealism often come from some of our youngest leaders. This category shines a spotlight on individuals under 30 who use social media to actively encourage sharing and dialogue on malaria, helping us all to see the challenges and opportunities around us in fresh ways."
• Innovator: "Continued progress against malaria will depend on the application of scientific thinking to the development of innovative tools, models and approaches. This award seeks out nominations of scientists, researchers and other forward thinkers who use social media to highlight new thinking or research, new approaches, or novel technologies, in the fight against malaria."
• People's choice for best malaria social communications: "Being ‘social’ is more than simply using Twitter or Facebook to share content or news. From journalists, bloggers and social media moderators to researchers, policy wonks and those in between, this award is for that stand-out person with the strongest ‘social attitudes’ of helping others and adding value to the malaria response. This is likely to be one of the ‘mavens’ you depend on to point you towards the latest malaria-related perspectives or opinions, new developments or resources. "

Nominees are being showcased in an online gallery, where people can endorse the candidates.

Click here for more information about the awards.