The 27th edition of the prestigious Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Media Awards was launched yesterday at the Ghana International Press Centre in Accra.
The launch event was graced by the Executive Director of EOCO, COP Maame Tiwaa Addo Dankwa.
This year’s edition will as usual celebrate media excellence and successes of deserving journalists.
The essence is to promote professional excellence and high journalistic standards.
The GJA Media Awards is organized annually to achieve one of the key objectives of the Association under Article 3(j) of the GJA Constitution 2004, which mandates the National Executive to “Reward and honour outstanding members periodically”.
This year’s awards event is on the theme “LEVERAGING MEDIA FREEDOM TO SUSTAIN THE DEMOCRATIC AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE: THE LITMUS TEST OF 2024 ELECTIONS.”
This year’s ceremony would have 34 competitive award categories up for grabs.
Nominations are opened for three weeks and will close on September 13, 2023 with no extension of deadlines.
Addressing the function, the President of the GJA, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour revealed that the 27th GJA Media Awards is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 28 2023, at the Accra International Conference Center at 6PM.
He also announced that Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensa, has accepted to be the keynote speaker of the October event.
Touching on the theme Mr. Dwumfour stated that the topic was chosen to prepare journalists for the impending crucial elections in 2024.
“We want journalists to be well-prepared for their upcoming duties and to provide extensive, thorough, and impartial election coverage in order to mark yet another milestone in our democratic dispensation.”
He added…”beyond the dictates of the GJA Constitution, the current administration of the Association is very much committed to the promotion of professional excellence and high journalistic standards.
It is in this light that the GJA is delighted about the exploits of Paa Kwesi Asare of Media General in winning this year’s BBC New Komla Dumor Award. This is the first time a Ghanaian journalist has emerged as the winner in the eight-year history of the prestigious award in honour of the renowned Ghanaian broadcast journalist, Komla Dumor.”
He acknowledged that the Komla Dumor award is given to outstanding individuals living and working in Africa, with strong journalism skills, on-air flair, and an exceptional talent in telling African stories.
“It is not surprising that the judges were impressed by Asare’s strong journalism skills and his ability to explain complex topics compellingly and clearly. Paa Kwesi Asare is currently the head of business news at TV3.
On behalf of the leadership of the GJA, I wish to congratulate Paa Kwesi on this memorable achievement. Whilst urging him to climb higher, we believe his remarkable achievement will encourage others to also raise the bar of excellence and win similar awards.
….Paa Kwesi, you have brought distinction and honor to the nation most importantly the media fraternity as well as your employers, Media General. CONGRATULATIONS!”
He mentioned that the GJA has explored some collaboration with EOCO to sponsor one of the categories of this year’s awards.
“As you can see, we have the Executive Director of EOCO in our midst and her presence here goes beyond the title of Special Guest.
…She is here to affirm EOCO’s pledge to sponsor an award category this year. The expression of interest in this year’s GJA Media Awards by prominent individuals and institutions is very heartwarming.
He also touched on last year’s edition which was the first to be held by his administration after the GJA Elections.
“Among other innovations, we redefined some of the award categories to make them more purposeful.
We also decoupled the awards from the dinner in order to enhance the relevance of and interest in, the two ceremonies among our members in particular and the media fraternity in general. Given the positive signals we are picking, I can assure you that this year’s awards would be bigger and better. And nobody, whether corporate or individual, can afford to miss it.”
He also lined up some new innovations for this year.
“In line with our innovative approach, we are introducing the Best Radio/TV Programme for Ghanaian Languages. Unlike the previous awards which had separate categories for Best Radio/TV Programme in six local languages, we have now merged all of them as one category. So whether it is Ga, Ewe, Nzema, Twi, Hausa, Dagbani or Krobo, they will all compete for one category.
In the immediate past administration, a category for the Best Student Journalist of the Year was introduced but it died subsequently. We are resurrecting that award category this year.
We want to encourage trainee journalists to have a strong appetite for professional excellence and high journalistic standards even before they join the world of work.
The decision to bring back the Best Student Journalist of the Year award also falls within our membership drive agenda, that is, to encourage trainee journalists and practitioners to join the GJA.”
Mr. Dwumfour also indicated that
another innovation in this year’s award is the online entry system.
“Last year, we moved away from the age-old filing of entries in hard copy by developing an email system to receive entries. We are taking it a notch higher this year. We have moved on from the email system with the development of an online platform for the submission of entries. We are taking things one step at a time, and we shall always work to improve our operations.”
