The Ghana Journalists Association has announced awardees to be honoured at its 27th awards ceremony on Sunday, October 29, 2023.
The awardees include Media General as an organization, one of its reporters, Godwin Asediba and a News Editor, Eric Mensah-Ayettey whose weekly Column, Eric’s Diary, has been penciled for recognition in relation to an article published on myjoyonline.com last year.
Others are; Anthony Adongo Apubeo – GNA, Beatrice Senadju – GBC, Della Russel Ocloo – Daily Graphic, Vivian Adu – Atinka Media, Fred Duhoe – CitiTV, Akua Oforiwa Darko – GBC, Gifty Adjei – GBC, Alberto Mario Noretti – The Mirror, Seth Bokpe – The Fourth Estate, Emma Davies – MultiMedia Group, Mohammed Fugu – Daily Graphic, Kweku Bolton – GBC, Francisca Enchil – Freelance, via Joynews,
The rest are; Edward Adeti – The Fourth Estate/Media without Borders, Erastus Asare Donkor – Multimedia Group, Emmanuel Dzivenu – Joy Prime, Efia Akese – The Mirror, Kester Aburam Korankye – Daily Graphic, Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman – EIB network, Felix Dela Klutse – Pent Media Centre, Neta Kris Abiana Parsram – Multimedia Group, Doreen Ampofo – GBC, Godwin Asediba – Media General, and Collincia Ayifa – Student journalist via Multimedia Group,
The other media organisations to be recognized are; UTV, Joy FM/Joy News, Daily Graphic and Atinka Media.
The event, which has the theme, “Leveraging media freedom to sustain the democratic and security architecture! The litmus test of election 2024”, will be held at the International Conference Centre.
Making the announcement of awardees at a press conference in Accra on October 25, 2023, the Chairperson of the Awards Committee, Mrs. Betty Apau-Oppong, stated that the committee received a total of 127 entries for the 34 categories. These included 15 submissions from students and 16 from media houses.
Mrs. Betty Apau-Oppong noted that there was a significant improvement in the entries for the year under review- 2022 over the the previous year’s entries. This development, she observed, is a testament to improvement in the performance of the media.
The Chairperson however, bemoaned the limited number of entries received for radio as well as the number that were entered for wrong categories.
The President of the GJA, Mr. Albert Dwumfour, congratulated the award winners for their dedication to media practice and telling the most impactful stories.
“Journalism is a social responsibility and you have demonstrated that social responsibility through your work. We commend you for that,” he said.
Mr. Dwumfuor explained that the theme for this year’s awards is “shaped by the importance that media freedom places on the advancement of democracy and the safeguarding of national security. The GJA believes that Election 2024 will serve as a litmus test for the democratic and security framework of the nation.”
He, therefore, urged media practitioners to “play a significant role in guaranteeing success in this test, but only under a media freedom regime that is conducive to the process.”
Sponsorship for the 27th Ghana Journalists Awards is headlined by GCB Bank. The Major sponsors are; US Embassy, KGL Group, Ghana Gas, ADB, Tobinco Group, and EOCO. The supporting sponsors are; GBC, Ghana Police Service, Access Bank, Stanbic Bank, SSNIT, Inolink, GHAPOHA, Ghana Shippers Authority, and National Security.