Barbadian Journalist Wins UNFPA Diaspora Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 24, 2004) –
Derrice Deane of Voice of America in Washingtoon DC is the winner of the United Nations Population Fund's new Diaspora Award for excellence in reporting on Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights issues.

Deane, a Washington DC-based national of Barbados, took honors at last Friday's Caribbean Media Awards ceremony in Kingston, Jamaica for an entry entitled "Staying Alive: HIV/AIDS Youth Prevention Program".

Barbadian-born Deane received the special award from Marsha Suraj, Continental Airlines' Sales Manager for Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. She also picked up US$750 in cash, compliments of Coca-Cola and UNFPA for her entry which won her the runner-up gold position in the radio category.

As a teenager, Derrice prepared the program log for the inaugural broadcast of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation. She then worked and studied throughout Europe and Canada before spending 25 years at the World Bank in Washington D.C. While there, her passion for the Caribbean found an outlet as a volunteer newscaster, broadcasting the region's news on the local Pacifica station, WPFW, every Saturday evening. That led to the Voice of America where for the past eight years she has interviewed Caribbean Heads of State, academicians, politicians, authors, artists and diplomats, as she sought to generate intra-regional dialogue and international awareness of regional issues.

Continental Airlines, the second largest carrier to Latin America and the Caribbean, operates direct nonstop flights to 18 destinations on 12 islands in the Caribbean from its New York/Newark hub, as well as flights to six Caribbean destinations from Houston. The airline is committed to the Caribbean-American community. "Hence the reason we are particularly pleased to sponsor the Diaspora Award ... since many of our customers are from the Caribbean, residing in the U.S. and frequently travel back home to visit friends and family," said Marsha Suraj. She underscored Continental Airlines' commitment to the Caribbean through the increase of its service to the Caribbean by 22 percent since September 2003.

The annual UNFPA Caribbean Media Awards awards is co-produced by Counterpart International.