The winners of the essay prize Fritt Ord (Freedom of Expression) in 2007 recently made a visit to Strasbourg as a part of their prize.
17/01/2008 ::
The winners of the essay contest Fritt Ord visited Strasbourg on 10-11 January. Their visit was a part of the prize awarded to the young students, and during their stay they visited, amongst other things, the Council of Europe, The European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament.
The Freedom of Expression Foundation in Oslo annually sets up a Fritt Ord essay contest for youth between 12 and 20 years. The foundations aim is to promote freedom of expression by encouraging free and open debate and unconstrained use of “the free word”. The contest is a possibility for youth to learn more about historic or current aspects related to freedom of expression through writing an essay with a topic of their own choosing. The only criterion set for the topic of the essays is related to freedom of expression.
The winner of the prize in 2007, Anton Pospelov, compared the use of propaganda on the german and soviet sides of the battle of Stalingrad during World War 2. The winner of the second prize, Peter Kristian Jebsen, chose to study the relationship between media and military in three American wars. Lene Elisabeth Hodge, the winner of the third prize, chose a very different approach to freedom of expression in her study of language usage (the extent of slang) in British women’s magazines.
During their stay in Strasbourg, the laureates met with Sverre Erik Jebens, the Norwegian judge to the European Court of Human Rights. Norwegian Ambassador to the Council of Europe Torbjøn Frøysnes also welcomed them to a lunch in his residence. In addition, the young writers learnt about European cooperation and priorities through visits to both the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
Freedom of expression is a Council of Europe priority, and Norway attaches great importance to this and other human rights. The Freedom of Expression Foundation in Oslo is a civil society initiative, and thus helps facilitate and insure the maintaining of freedom of expression in Norway.