Journalism awards revived

The Editors' Forum of Namibia (EFN) this week launched its Journalism Awards to celebrate and promote professional excellence in the Namibian media. The last media awards ceremony took place eight years ago.EFN chairperson Joseph Ailonga said the media had received mixed reviews from the public in recent years. “If the recent media Afrobarometer is anything to go by, we can surely say that we need to enhance ethics in a world of fake news,” he said at the launch.The EFN has long striven to ensure that Namibian journalists adhere to the rules of the trade, underlining that ethical media are now required more than ever in a world of “alternative truths”.It is against this background that the EFN decided to award journalism excellence through the EFN Journalism Awards and a fundraising gala dinner scheduled for September. The awards will feature ten categories, including journalist of the year, investigative journalism, health, education, agriculture, environment and business and innovation journalism.With a nod towards new media, the awards will also celebrate videography and podcast entries. Each category will have only one winning entry which will receive a cash prize of N$10 000 and a certificate. The journalist of the year will receive a N$20 000 cash prize.The EFN journalism awards are aimed at promoting professional excellence in the print, electronic and new media.Entries close on 28 August, and the winners will be announced on 18 September. The EFN invited the renowned Saudi Arabian journalist and filmmaker Safa Al Ahmad as the gala evening's guest speaker. Al Ahmad is based in the United Kingdom and worked closely with Jamal Khashoggi, the murdered Saudi Arabian investigative journalist.Al Ahmad was the winner of the 2015 International Press Freedom Award and will share the story of how her colleague and friend Khashoggi paid the ultimate price for truth-seeking in October 2018. She will also speak about Khashoggi's perpetual quest to report events about his homeland, regardless of the consequences. She herself is living in exile for the documentaries she produced on the uprisings in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The panel of adjudicators for the 2019 awards will consist of three Namibians, one South African and one Zimbabwean. They will be named in due course. JANA-MARI SMITH

Journalism awards revived

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-16

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Journalism awards revived

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-16

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