The majority of the furore surrounding the Dalai Lama not coming to South Africa is beginning to blow over, so let’s take a moment to remember what this was all about to begin with – the Arch’s 80th. You want to wish him, don’t you? Have you ever met him? How has he impacted your life? Well, wish him happy birthday, and you could be on CNN for your efforts.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu turns 80 on Friday, and while the last few days and weeks have been overshadowed by the terribly nasty affair, it’s time we focus on celebrating the man, and not the controversy.

CNN’s iReport is all about you being involved with the news that CNN chooses to cover. It’s about your voice, together with other iReporters from all around the world, coming together to shape aspects of what CNN actually reports on. Citizen journalism, then.

Here is how they view things:

At CNN we believe that looking at the news from different angles gives us a deeper understanding of what’s going on. We also know that the world is an amazing place filled with interesting people doing fascinating things that don’t always make the news.

Everything you see on iReport starts with someone in the CNN audience. The stories here are not edited fact-checked or screened before they post.

CNN’s producers will check out some of the most compelling, important and urgent iReports and, once they’re cleared for CNN, make them a part of CNN’s news coverage.

Did you read that last sentence? Here it is again: “CNN’s producers will check out some of the most compelling [stories and] make them a part of CNN’s news coverage.”

You’ve only got until the early hours of tomorrow morning, South African time, to get your story and birthday message to the Arch, which you can do by following this link, so hurry up and go, go, go!

[Source: CNN]