Zoë Mir Wins Second Place In YRE Competition

The winners of the 2024 International Young Reporters for the Environment [YRE] Journalism Competition have been announced and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute [BUEI] said they are “delighted to share that Zoë Mir’s article has been awarded second place in the 11-14 age group by the global committee.”

A spokesperson said, “The YRE programme gives young people aged 11-25 a platform to research environmental issues and promote solutions through investigative reporting, photography, and video journalism. This year, the international competition received 248 submissions from a remarkable 46 countries, marking the highest level of global participation to date.

“After receiving first place locally in her category of the National Journalism Competition [written article age 11-14], Zoë’s 2024 article was entered into the global competition, alongside other local category winners for this year. Her winning entry titled, ‘Fighting Biodiversity Loss with Micro Forests’ then took second-place internationally.

“Zoë’s article presents readers with personal insights into the extensive biodiversity loss within Bermuda’s natural ecosystem, and the many problems this loss causes, while introducing micro forests as a solution to tackle these issues. By sharing her personal story of discovery and restoration, Zoë provides readers with a compelling tale of environmental advocacy that inspires other young people to join the biodiversity campaign.

“Her written piece continues to highlight Bermuda’s environmental stories on the world stage and serves as an exemplary follow-up to her success in last year’s competition, in which her 2023 article, ‘Plastic Pollution on Nonsuch Island, the Home of the Cahows’, also won second place at the global level.”

“Journalism is a really powerful tool, it enables you to share things that you have learned with the wider community to raise awareness for topics. It is something that you can apply to lots of different subjects in your life, anything you want to raise awareness about and it has made me a more conscious person of the environment and our impact on it and allowed me to plan for the future,” said Zoë Mir.

The spokesperson said, “The local competition received an impressive number of submissions for the three media categories, with entries coming in from seven schools across all age brackets. Four of the Bermuda’s entries this year were shortlisted in the international competition from the Article and Photography categories. With the incredible success of this and last year’s competitions, BUEI is extremely hopeful to see more young people becoming interested in environmental journalism. We also look forward to Zoë continuing to serve as an environmental advocate and representative of our island on a worldwide scale.

“To view Zoë’s winning article and all national winners for 2024, visit www.BUEI.org.”

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Category: All, Environment, News