São Paulo – The series of articles ‘Making the difference,’ written by the journalist Isabela Barros and published on the Brazil-Arab News Agency (ANBA, in the Portuguese acronym), is a finalist of the 2011 Journalism Prize of the Sebrae (the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service). The article is competing for the Special Jury Prize on Innovation, whose winner will be made known this Wednesday evening (1st), during a ceremony in Brasília. The three-article series is about the efforts of small businesses to offer different products and services and gain prominence in the market.
Aside from “Making the difference,” the series comprises the articles “An extra touch” on companies that innovate in the beauty and costume jewellery sector, and “Fashion Salver,” about the quest of Bahia state-based companies for a differential. “There are no high seas for them. Among the talk of bad markets and weak sales, those who make a difference always find space. This is how it works for small companies that offer products and services nobody else has,” the article opens.
The series was published in the “Pequenas Exportam” section, maintained by ANBA to showcase initiatives and exports by micro and small businesses in Brazil. The agency is focused on the relations between Brazil and the Arab nations, and the section is intended to point out, to the Arab world, the potential of smaller industries and service provider companies in Brazil, encouraging trade with the Middle East and North Africa in the segment.
Isabela Barros, born in the Brazilian state of Alagoas, is competing for the Special Jury Prize against Jornal do Comércio Online, from the state of Pernambuco, with the article “Alinhavando o future” (Setting Up the Future), by journalist Carlos Maciel; Canal Rural, from São Paulo, with the article “Cambuci dá lucro a produtores na região da Serra do Mar” (Cambuci fruit generates profit to growers in the Serra do Mar region), by journalists Melissa Cerozzi, Mariane De Luca, Antonio Alencar and Diego Mestiço; TV Cabo Branco e Paraíba, with the news story “Caravana JPB/Vassoura de Pet” (JPB Caravan/Pet broom); Diário do Nordeste, from the state of Ceará, with the article “Joias do Cariri” (Jewels of the Cariri), by Germana Cabral, Naiana Rodrigues and Marília Camelo; and the A Crítica newspaper, from Amazonas, with the series “Saída: Inovação” (Solution: Innovation), by Gerson Severo Oliveira Dantas.
ANBA has won ten journalism prizes since its inception, in 2003. The latest prize was won last year, the Journalism Prize of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, in the internet category. The agency receives approximately 1 million visits per month and maintains content reproduction agreements with seven Arab news agencies. It belongs to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and was an original project of Agência Meios, a communication agency owned by Joel Santos Guimarães. The website has English and Portuguese versions.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum