CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2016

JOHANNESBURG – The 20th anniversary of the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards last year ushered in a new era with a record number of entries (1,600) received from 38 countries across the continent for the 2016 competition. The objective of the awards is to reinforce the importance of the role of journalists in Africa’s development and to reward, recognise and encourage journalistic talent across all media disciplines.

A new category has been added this year, The Maggie Eales Young Journalist Award. This is named in honour of the late Maggie Eales, the CNN executive and former journalist who during her 20 year career at CNN was the driving force behind the development and growth of the African Journalist Awards.  This award reflects Maggie’s enduring passion for nurturing young talent and will recognise the work of journalists starting out in their career, who demonstrate exceptional storytelling and the ability to identify a story and tell it with conviction.

The judges

The independent judging panel, chaired by Ferial Haffajee, Chair of the Judging Panel & Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa, includes: Debo Adesina, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria; Jean-Paul Gérouard, Former Editor-in-Chief, France Télévisions; Eleni Giokos, Africa Correspondent, CNN; Fernando Gonçalves, Editor, Savana, Mozambique; Anton Harber, Editor-in-Chief, eNCA, South Africa; Joel Kibazo, Media & Public Affairs Consultant; Amadou Mahtar Ba, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, AllAfrica Global Media; Wanja Njuguna, Senior Lecturer, Namibia University of Science & Technology & CNN Journalist of the year 2000; David Ohito, Digital Editor, The Standard Media Group, Kenya and José Sebastião Paulo, Professor of Journalism, University Agostinho Neto, Angola.

Core Messages

The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Award is the premier accolade for excellence in journalism across the continent. The awards have become the standard for excellence in journalism throughout the continent. It is the one award that journalists and media houses throughout the continent would want to be associated with. The accolade represents the best the Africa continent has to offer in the field of journalism across all media platforms.

A truly African event

Entries for this year’s awards were from English, French and Portuguese speaking Africa, with 1637 entries – a record number – from 38 countries. The panel of judges boast a vast collective experience and knowledge of the industry, continent and the challenges of practicing journalism in Africa. Since the first ceremony in Accra, Ghana, 21 years ago several African cities such as Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Maputo, Kampala, Nairobi, Accra and Lusaka have hosted the awards.

CNN and MultiChoice commitment 

As joint partners for the past 11 years both CNN and MultiChoice continue to invest in the awards programme to ensure the development and advancement of good journalism across the African continent.

• The annual event celebrates the best talent, skills and experience that Africa’s media has to offer
• Showcases the established and budding future talent in the field of journalism
• The awards are the oldest and most diverse on the Africa continent in journalism
• This is the 21st year the Awards have been held. The first ceremony, held in Ghana on 11 August 1995 had six winners from various categories
• The awards recognize journalistic excellence in the following categories arts and culture, economics and business, environment, health/medical, photography, print, news, sport and tourism. There is also a Free Press Award
• Reflecting the diverse continent, the awards also recognize excellence in French and Portuguese media that is based in the continent.

The awards have grown to be the biggest in journalism throughout the African continent. MultiChoice says it is passionate about Africa and committed to the development of its people and talent. It has partnered with CNN since 2005 to encourage and recognize excellence in journalism throughout Africa with the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Awards

“We believe this is an important investment, particularly on a continent where journalists must contend with difficult operating environments, under-resourced newsrooms and where they often risk their lives to cover Africa’s stories,” it Multichoice management says. “We strongly believe that the quest for good corporate citizenship starts with an acceptance of responsibility, not only to our customers and stakeholders, but to the broader African community in which we operate.”

This year’s Awards will be broadcast across the continent on:

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