CNN MultiChoice African Journalists Awards is on!
Gilbert Boyefio
09/07/2008
23 finalists of the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the year Awards from all the four corners of the continent, are expected in Accra next week.
The award, which has become the standard for excellence in journalism throughout the African continent has been running for the past 14 years. It is the one award that journalists and media houses throughout the continent would want to be associated with.
According to Edward Boateng, Founder and Group Chairman of Global Media Alliance Group, "the accolade of the award represents the best the African continent has to offer in the field of journalism across all media platforms".
Ghana's Israel Laryea and Daniel Nkrumah have been nominated for this year's awards.
Since the first ceremony in Ghana on August 11, 1995, numerous African cities such as Cape Town, Maputo and Nairobi have hosted the awards. Previous winners hail from countries as diverse as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. This is the second time the event will be held in Accra, representing a more than symbolic homecoming of awards, to their country of birth.
In an interaction with a section of the media in Accra yesterday, Mr Boateng, who is the brain behind the creation of the CNN African Journalist Awards, explained that the rationale behind the award is to award excellence in the African media landscape.
He said the annual event celebrates the best talents, skills and experience that Africa’s media have to offer. He disclosed that the criteria for the nomination are that the entry article should be fair and balanced, well researched and should tell a story.
He noted that it also creates a media forum that gathers the continent’s leading minds to discuss issues pertinent to the media on the continent.
The awards recognise journalistic excellence in the following categories: environment, health, HIV/AIDS, tourism, arts and culture, economics, news, business, best magazine feature and photography. "Reflecting the diverse continent, the awards also recognise excellence in French and Portuguese media that is based in the continent," he added.
Mr Boateng pointed out that to date the awards have grown to 17 categories and covers media platforms that are expanding beyond print and broadcasting.
He said this year, the call to entry saw 1912 entries, from a record forty four African countries, and observed that "the quantitative growth in numbers has also been accompanied by a marked improvement in the quality of the entries." He said the panel of judges for the award boasts vast collective experience and knowledge of the industry, continent and the challenges of practicing journalism in Africa.
He disclosed that support for the awards has also grown, with thirteen multinationals each sponsoring a category in the awards. Also as partners for the past three years, both CNN and MultiChoice continue to invest in the awards programme to ensure the development and advancement of good journalism across the Africa continent. According to him, "the awards gives African journalists the platform to tell the story of Africa."
To him, the award is reflective of the performance of the media in Africa and urged that other national journalism awards, such as the Ghana Journalist Association Awards, be improved upon. The programme line up for the one week event are as follows: July 15, welcome and briefing of finalists and judges; July 16, sight seeing tour in the Western Region; July 17, CNN MultiChoice media forum on the topic role of the media in elections and violence and the media; July 18, sight seeing tour in Accra; July 19, Awards and confetti for overall winner; July 20, depart for brunch at the castle.
09/07/2008
23 finalists of the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the year Awards from all the four corners of the continent, are expected in Accra next week.
The award, which has become the standard for excellence in journalism throughout the African continent has been running for the past 14 years. It is the one award that journalists and media houses throughout the continent would want to be associated with.
According to Edward Boateng, Founder and Group Chairman of Global Media Alliance Group, "the accolade of the award represents the best the African continent has to offer in the field of journalism across all media platforms".
Ghana's Israel Laryea and Daniel Nkrumah have been nominated for this year's awards.
Since the first ceremony in Ghana on August 11, 1995, numerous African cities such as Cape Town, Maputo and Nairobi have hosted the awards. Previous winners hail from countries as diverse as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. This is the second time the event will be held in Accra, representing a more than symbolic homecoming of awards, to their country of birth.
In an interaction with a section of the media in Accra yesterday, Mr Boateng, who is the brain behind the creation of the CNN African Journalist Awards, explained that the rationale behind the award is to award excellence in the African media landscape.
He said the annual event celebrates the best talents, skills and experience that Africa’s media have to offer. He disclosed that the criteria for the nomination are that the entry article should be fair and balanced, well researched and should tell a story.
He noted that it also creates a media forum that gathers the continent’s leading minds to discuss issues pertinent to the media on the continent.
The awards recognise journalistic excellence in the following categories: environment, health, HIV/AIDS, tourism, arts and culture, economics, news, business, best magazine feature and photography. "Reflecting the diverse continent, the awards also recognise excellence in French and Portuguese media that is based in the continent," he added.
Mr Boateng pointed out that to date the awards have grown to 17 categories and covers media platforms that are expanding beyond print and broadcasting.
He said this year, the call to entry saw 1912 entries, from a record forty four African countries, and observed that "the quantitative growth in numbers has also been accompanied by a marked improvement in the quality of the entries." He said the panel of judges for the award boasts vast collective experience and knowledge of the industry, continent and the challenges of practicing journalism in Africa.
He disclosed that support for the awards has also grown, with thirteen multinationals each sponsoring a category in the awards. Also as partners for the past three years, both CNN and MultiChoice continue to invest in the awards programme to ensure the development and advancement of good journalism across the Africa continent. According to him, "the awards gives African journalists the platform to tell the story of Africa."
To him, the award is reflective of the performance of the media in Africa and urged that other national journalism awards, such as the Ghana Journalist Association Awards, be improved upon. The programme line up for the one week event are as follows: July 15, welcome and briefing of finalists and judges; July 16, sight seeing tour in the Western Region; July 17, CNN MultiChoice media forum on the topic role of the media in elections and violence and the media; July 18, sight seeing tour in Accra; July 19, Awards and confetti for overall winner; July 20, depart for brunch at the castle.
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