FOI annual award ceremony
General information
Since 2002 in more than 100 countries September 28 is celebrated as the International Right to Know Day. In Armenia since 2003 after the adoption of the Armenian FOI law the FOICA jointly with its partner NGOs, has initiated the FOI Annual Award Ceremony which become an important awareness raising campaign tool and a stimulus for developing good access to information practices by public bodies.
The Golden Keys awards are awarded as a symbol of openness and transparency, and the Rusty lock awards are awarded as a symbol of secrecy.
The positive awards are:
- Positive Award for the institution/agency that has the best applied the Armenian FOI Law;
- Positive award for the best official website in terms of access to information;
- Positive award for the best official initiative ensuring freedom of information;
- Positive Award for the NGO that best utilized the right of access to information;
- Positive Award for the journalist/author of the best FOI related article;
- Positive Award for a citizen who has actively exercised his/her right of access to information under FOI Law.
The negative awards are:
- Negative award for a state institution, which does not fulfill its obligations in FOI field.
- Negative award for a state institution, which is the author of the most ridiculous official answer.
The nominees are selected by an Independent Jury represented by local and international organizations’ members, journalists, and scientists in the field. The Jury sums up the results of the monitoring conducted by the FOICA and their own experience. Another source for unbiased decision-making is the monthly Black list of those officials and institutions which infringed people’s right to access to information (quarterly composed by the FOI Center). The selection criteria are available on: http://www.foi.am/en/award-standards/.
In 2010, FOICA produced a thirty-minute documentary on the Right to Know Day. The movie presents the history of the Right to Know Day ceremonies in Armenia and the positive effects from the advocacy for the right of access to information. The documentary film can be viewed here.