Board Chairman of Media General, Professor Kojo Yankah, has congratulated TV3’s Paa Kwesi Asare for winning the 2023 BBC News Komla Dumor Award.
Professor Yankah who is also the founder of the Pan African Heritage Museum, indicated that Paa Kwesi Asare is an inspiration for his colleagues at Media General and the media industry as a whole who are following in his footsteps.
As part of the award, Paa Kwesi will spend three months working with BBC News teams in London across television, radio, and online.
He will be given the opportunity to further develop his journalism skills through training, workshops, and mentoring with leading BBC journalists.
The award was created in 2015 to honour the memory of Komla Dumor, a presenter for BBC World News who was known for his commitment to reporting African stories comprehensively and authentically.
Commenting on Paa Kwesi’s award, Prof Yankah said “I will like to congratulate Paa Kwesi Asare for this honour, he has been an inspiration to most people who are following in his footsteps particularly at Media General, TV3, and also in the journalism industry as a whole in Ghana.
“I have watched him from afar since he joined Media General and I have found him to have some of the distinct qualities of Komla Dumor because I knew Komla Dumor very well, he was the one who never rested, he was the one who researched thoroughly, he was the one who was careful about what he was saying every time and he was a committed and passionate journalist. That is how I see Paa Kwesi Asare. Sometimes I think he is too passionate.”
Sister of the late broadcaster Komla Dumor, Mawuena Trebarh also said that it was exciting that for the first time, a Ghanaian won the award that was instituted eight years ago.
She said “I have the gift and the blessing of remembering Komla Dumor as my younger brother. Today is such a fortuitous day as we celebrate 80 years of my father’s life only to find that we have just been delivered this wonderful news that for the very first time in the history of the BBC Komla Dumor Award a Ghanaian has won.”
She added “It is my privilege to, on behalf of the family, extend our congratulations to Paa Kwesi Asare and to say how thrilled we are as a family and as Ghanaians that for the first time, a Ghanaian has been acknowledged for excellence in broadcast journalism.
“We wish him every success and we encourage other Ghanaians to put in the application. Indeed it is a very competitive initiative and it is exciting to see young African professionals in the media landscape applying and learning and growing and developing their skills but it is especially beautiful to know that this time a Ghanaian has won.
“We look forward to more successes and we remain committed to our partnership with the BBC for a long-lasting legacy in Komla’s name.”