For release: 19 April 2011
CNN MULTICHOICE AFRICAN JOURNALIST 2011 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED
Finalists in the prestigious CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2011 Competition were
announced today by Joel Kibazo, Chair of the independent judging panel. The competition is
now in its 16th year.
This year the competition received entries from 42 countries across the continent, including French
and Portuguese speaking Africa.
There are 27 finalists from 13 countries:
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Kofi Akpabli, Freelance for the Daily Graphic, Ghana
Claudine Efoa Atohoun, ORTB, Benin
Rabin Bhujun, L’Express Dimanche, Mauritius
José Bouças de Oliveira, Televisão Santomense, São Tomé
Sylvia Chebet, Citizen TV, Kenya
DispatchOnline Team, Daily Dispatch, South Africa
Kimani Githae, Citizen TV, Kenya
Lamia Hassan, Business Today, Egypt
Virgil Augustin Pascal Houesson, L’événement Précis, Benin
Mahamud Abdi Jama, Waaheen, Somalia
Norman Katende, Freelance for The New Vision, Uganda
Farouk Kayondo, UBC, Uganda
Mark Klusener, eNews Africa, South Africa
Selma Marivate, Record, Mozambique
Melini Moses, SABC, South Africa
Lindile Mpanza, e.tv, South Africa
Kamau Mutunga, DN2 Magazine, Daily Nation, Kenya
Nigel M. Nassar, The New Vision, Uganda
Fatuma Noor, The Star, Kenya
Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye, Sunday Punch, Nigeria
Nnamdi Okosieme, Next Newspaper, Nigeria
Benon Herbert Oluka, Sunday Life Magazine, Sunday Monitor, Uganda
Beryl Ooro, K24 TV, Kenya
Sonny Serite, Freelance for The Sunday Standard, Botswana
Portia Solomon, TV3 News, Ghana
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Kipchumba Some, The Standard, Kenya
Nkula Zau, Televisão Pública de Angola
This year the recipient of the Free Press Africa Award is Mahamud Abdi Jama, Editor of Waaheen,
an independent private newspaper published in Somaliland. Waaheen, part of the Waaheen Media
Group, is known for its critical coverage of the Government.
Mahamud was sentenced to three years in prison and fined in connection with a story alleging
public corruption. After pressure on the Government Mahamud was granted a Presidential pardon
and released after spending over a month in prison.
He is awarded this prize for working under stressful conditions, and in the face of opposition and
providing the public with important information, regardless of the consequences to himself.
The winners of the competition will be announced at an Award Ceremony and Gala Evening in
Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday 25 June 2011.
The hosts for the evening will be Isha Sesay, presenter of CNN International’s weekly programme
‘Inside Africa’ and Robert Marawa, the face of one of DStv’s SuperSports channel and regular host
of Metro FM’s Discovery Sports Centre.
Announcing the finalists, Joel Kibazo said: “African journalists are becoming noticeably more
challenging, showing greater courage and strength which would have been unimaginable just a few
years ago. Entries this year have demonstrated this – bolder, more determined on their home patch,
and with a new found zeal to cover countries beyond their own borders."
The independent judging panel, chaired by Joel Kibazo, journalist and media consultant, includes:
Ikechukwu Amaechi, Editor, Daily Independent, Nigeria; Jean-Paul Gérouard, Deputy Editor-inChief, France 3 TV; Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa; Arlindo Lopes,
former Secretary General, Southern African Broadcasting Association; Zipporah Musau, Managing
Editor, Magazines, The Standard Group Ltd, Kenya; Kim Norgaard, CNN Bureau Chief, South
Africa and this year CNN’s sports anchor Pedro Pinto joined the panel to assist in the judging of the
Portuguese General News Category.
Freelance journalist Paul McNally assisted the judging panel and carried out the first round of preselection, removing the entries that didn’t meet the required journalistic standards to be put forward
to the judging panel for the next stage of judging. Paul was the winner of the Health and Medical
Category at the 2009 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards, and a runner-up in the HIV /
AIDS Reporting category of the same year.
This year has seen communications company, Ericsson, join a loyal list of sponsors who continue to
lend their valuable support to the awards: Coca-Cola Africa; Ecobank; IPP Media, Tanzania; Merck
Sharp & Dohme (MSD); Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry solution;
Sandton Sun Hotel and A24 Media.
The Sandton Sun is the delegate hotel for the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2011.
Situated in the heart of Sandton’s business and entertainment centre, it provides the perfect location
for finalists, judges, attending media and guests from across the continent to explore this vibrant
district of northern Johannesburg. An all expenses paid five day programme of workshops, media
forums, networking has been set up for the finalists during the run up to the award ceremony on 25
June 2011.
Tony Maddox, Executive Vice-President and Managing Director of CNN International said: “The
passion which African journalists display for telling compelling and top class stories knows no
bounds. Once more, CNN proudly continues its commitment to encouraging inspired journalistic
excellence with these awards.”
Nolo Letele, Group Chief Executive of MultiChoice South Africa, said: “We are proud of our
partnership with CNN for these awards. And we are even more proud to play a part in telling the
stories of Africa. We look forward to welcoming all the finalists in Johannesburg in June to celebrate
your excellence in journalism.”
Note to Editors: Competition Criteria
To enter the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2011 competition the journalist must have been an African
national and have worked on the continent for African owned, or headquartered, media organisations that
produced a printed publication or broadcast through an electronic medium (television broadcaster, radio
station or website) primarily targeted at and received by an African audience.
**Criteria change 2011**
This year, it was decided to reduce the number of entries submitted by an individual journalist to two
stories across all categories, ensuring that journalists carefully reviewed their stories of 2010 and
focussed on their best one or two stories of the year.
Entries were published or broadcast in 2010 for the following awards:
Arts & Culture: Digital Journalism Award; Economics and Business: Environment: Free Press Africa;
HIV/AIDS Reporting; MSD Health & Medical: Mohamed Amin Photographic; Print General News;
Radio General News; Sport; Television Features; Television News Bulletin; Tourism; Francophone
General News Awards (Print and Electronic Media); Portuguese Language General News
Website: www.cnn.com/africanawards
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/CNNMultichoiceAfricanJournalistOfTheYearAwards
Twitter: @africanjourno
Issued: 19 April 2011
For further information please contact:
CNN International: Joel Brown + 44 20 7693 0967 [email protected]
MultiChoice Africa: Odette Bagley +2711 289 3400 obagley@[email protected]
MultiChoice South Africa: Marietjie Groenewald + 27 11 289 3067 [email protected]