Ghana to host CNN awards

Front Page Tuesday Jan. 15/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
GHANA will host the 13th CNN Multichoice African Journalists Awards 2008 in July this year.
The General Manager of Multichoice Ghana Limited, Mr Samuel Baimbill-Johnson, who announced this at the launch of the awards in Accra yesterday, said it would be the second time that the country would host it.
The first time Ghana hosted the prestigious awards in Accra was in 1995.
The competition will recognise excellence in 16 categories, namely, Tourism, Arts and Culture, Economics and Business, Environment, Free Press Africa, MSD Health and Medical and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa.
The others are Best Feature in a Consumer Magazine, Photography, Print General News, Radio General News, Sports, Television General News, Features/Current Affairs, News Bulletin, Francophone General News Awards (Print and TV/Radio), Francophone Best Feature in a Magazine and Portuguese Language General News.
Mr Baimbill-Johnson said the overall winner would be chosen from among the best in the various categories.
He said over the past 12 years, the competition had grown in stature, strength and prestige, saying that it attracted a record number of entries from 40 African countries.
He said finalists in the 2008 competition would not only participate in a gala awards ceremony but also take part in a four-day finalists’ programme that would include workshops, a media forum, networking opportunities with senior journalists, editors, business leaders and media owners from across the continent.
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ransford Tetteh, in an address, expressed the concern of the association that Ghanaian journalists had, over the years, not participated enough in the awards programme.
He challenged Ghanaian journalists to ensure that they annexed the overall award, since the event was to be held in their home country.
Mr Tetteh said the time had come for the Ghanaian media to highlight more on basic things such as sanitation, environmental pollution and health, in addition to their constitutional mandate as watchdogs over the Executive arm of government.
He said celebrating African media excellence did not mean that journalists should focus on politicians and other individuals but also ensure that they highlighted on some of the fundamental things that affected people, especially the poor in society.
Mr Tetteh, who is also the Editor of the Daily Graphic, called on the Ghanaian media to also spare a thought for issues of urban slums, as well as environmental degradation, to set the agenda for politicians and the government to look into.
A Senior Advisor to CNN, Mr Edward Boateng, in an address, said the awards ceremony had, over the years, grown to become one of the most prestigious events on the African continent.
He said the ceremony had been replicated in other places such as Thailand and India.
The ceremony is being hosted in Ghana in a year that other important events such as the UNCTAD meeting and the Africa Cup of Nations (Ghana 2008) will be held.