Novo Nordisk Media Prize

As a world leader in diabetes care, Novo Nordisk is committed to increasing the level of worldwide awareness of diabetes. The media plays a crucial role in informing and educating the public about the disease. Therefore Novo Nordisk founded the Novo Nordisk Media Prize for excellence in writing on diabetes in the lay press in 2003. An annual award is given to the best article and the best TV feature on diabetes after being evaluated by an independent international jury.

Winners of the Novo Nordisk Media Prize 2008

Xuemei Zhang from China and Jaume Vilalta i Casas from Spain won the Novo Nordisk Media Prize 2008 for the best article and the best TV feature about diabetes, respectively. The winners competed along with journalists from 20 countries worldwide.

Prize for best article

The prize for the best article went to Xuemei Zhang’s ‘Should Colleges Open the Door to Teenagers with Diabetes?’, published in the Beijing Evening News, which is the capital’s largest-circulation newspaper. The article brings to light the issue of how college students tackle life with diabetes and explains how they are trying to achieve a better control of their disease while at the same time keeping it a secret. The article not only succeeded in raising awareness of the stigmas linked to diabetes, but also paved the way for concrete changes in the way colleges perceive students with diabetes.

Prize for best TV feature

The prize for the best TV feature went to Jaume Vilalta i Casas for his entry ‘Diabetes: Cuando el dulce amarga’ (Diabetes: When sweets are bitter). The feature was originally broadcast on the TV programme Quéquicom, televised on Channel 33 for TVC in Catalonia, Spain. Jaume was inspired to create the feature after having a discussion with a doctor from a Barcelona hospital. This gave him the personal motivation to focus one of his programmes on diabetes and to inform and educate the public about the seriousness of the disease.

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