The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA)has unveiled the 27th GJA Awards slated for Saturday October 28 2023 at 6pm.
Addressing the media to announce the category in Accra on Thursday, the GJA President, Mr. Albert Kwabena Dwumfour said 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 outsanding members periodically”.
He revealed that this year’s awards theme “LEVERAGING MEDIA FREEDOM TO SUSTAIN THE DEMOCRATIC AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE: THE LITMUS TEST OF 2024 ELECTIONS” 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”, Mr. Dwumfour stressed.
He explained further that per 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 said.
He advised Journalists to submit their nominations within the stipulated times as there is not going to be an extension.
Below is the full statement and Awards category.
GHANA JOURNALISTSASSOCIATION
ANNUAL MEDIA AWARDS 2023
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS& RULES
The competition is open to members in good standing who are working in the print (including news agency), electronic and online media in Ghana.
The competition is open for works published in 2022.
Members of the National Executive and the GJA Media Awards Committee are not eligible to contest.
Entries should cover works published from Januaryl, 2022 to December31, 2022. Entrants may submit entries for a maximum of two categories, and not more than two published works should be submitted for each category.
However, one work shall not be entered in more than one category.
Entrants should submit clear, original published work of each entry.
Entrants must upload a clear passport size photo for their entries.
Student journalists must upload a scanned copy of their Student ID Card for their entries.
Entrants are advised to secure strong Internet connection to ensure easy and fast uploading of entries.
The deadline for submission of entries is at September 8, 2023.
Entries/Nominations should be titled ‘GJA MEDIA AWARDS 2023’
The GJA is NOT bound to give an award in a category if it does not merit one.
The Awards Committee shall select the overall best story from the various categories for consideration by the National Executive as winner of the P. A. V. Ansah Journalist of the Year.
The Awards Committee shall select the best story by a female journalist from the various categories for consideration by the National Executive as winner of the Best Female Journalist of the Year.
The Awards Committee shall select the best story by a young journalist from the various categories for consideration by the National Executive as winner of the Komla Dumor Most Promising Journalist of the Year.
The Awards Committee shall select the best story by a student journalist from the various categories for consideration by the National Executive as winner of the Best Journalist of the Year.
BIO DATA
NAME
DATE OF BIRTH
MEDIA ORGANISATION
POSTAL ADDRESS
EMAIL ADDRESS
REGION OF WORK
TYPE OF MEDIA (State-owned / Private-owned)
NATURE OF MEDIA (Print / Television / Radio / Online)
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF STORY (January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022)
DATE OF ENTRY FOR AWARDS
AWARDS CATEGORIES
DIVISION ONE (SEPARATE AWARDS)
i. NEWS (Print, Television, Radio, Online) ii. FEATURES (Print, Television, Radio, Online) iii. DOCUMENTARIES (Television, Radio)
COLUMNIST (Print)
DIVISION TWO (BEATS) (One award for each category)
i. SPORTS ii. EDUCATION iii. INVESTIGATIVE
PHOTOJOURJALISM
v. ARTS / ENTERTAINMENT vi. BUSINESS / ECONOMIC vii. ENVIRONMENT / SCIENCE viii. HEALTH
AGRICULTURE / FOOD SECURITY
x. DEMOCRACY & GOOD GOVERNANCE GENDER xii. CRIME / COURT
DIVISION THREE (SPECIAL CAMPAIGN) (One award for each category)
i. SABILITY ii. 0MEgr1c TOURISM iii. ROAD SAFETY iv. ILLEGAL MINING
DIVISION FOUR (PROGRAMMES& LAYOUT) (One award for each category)
i. BEST RADIO/TV PROGRAMME (GHANAIAN LANGUAGES) ii. BEST RADIO/TV PROGRAMME (ENGLISH LANGUAGE) iii. BEST NEWSPAPER LAYOUT (PRINT)
DIVISION FIVE (PROMISING JOURNALIST)
i. BEST STUDENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR (Open to students of accredited journalism / communication training institutions whose works were published in 2022. Such entrants must upload a scanned copy of a valid student’s identity card to support their entry) ii. CJA/KOMLA DUMOR MOST PROMISING JOURNALIST OF THE
YEAR(Open to journalists of the Association with not more than three years’ experience) iii. BEST FEMALE JOURNALIST (Open to female journalists of the Association with not more than ten years’ experience)
DIVISION SIX (JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR)
i. GJA/P.A.V. ANSAH JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
Kofi eboah
(General Secretary)
Speech Delivered By Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, The President Of The Ghana Journalists Association, At The Launch Of The 27th GJA Media Awards, Held At The Ghana International Press Centre, On Thursday, August 24, 2023
The Executive Director of EOCO, COP Maame Tiwaa Addo Dankwa,
Members of the National Executive of the GJA,
Colleague members of the inky fraternity,
Invited guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I wish to welcome you all to the Gifty Affenyi Dadzie Hall of the Ghana International Press Centre and to also thank you for responding to our invitation at this very short notice. We appreciate your commitment and contribution to the programmes and activities of the GJA.
Ladies and gentlemen, the reason we have invited you here this afternoon is to launch the 27th GJA Media Awards, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 28, 2023, at the Accra International Conference Center at 6 PM. 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”. The essence is to promote professional excellence and high journalistic standards.
This year’s awards theme is “LEVERAGING MEDIA FREEDOM TO SUSTAIN THE DEMOCRATIC AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE: THE LITMUS TEST OF 2024 ELECTIONS.” This 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.
Ladies and gentlemen, 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.
The 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.
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!
Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to inform you that the excitement around the flagship event of the GJA has started building up long before this afternoon’s launching ceremony. 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. I am also pleased to inform you that the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensa, has accepted to be the keynote speaker of the event. The expression of interest in this year’s GJA Media Awards by prominent individuals and institutions is very heartwarming.
Ladies and gentlemen, you may recall that in the first awards organized by this administration last year, we hosted the flagship GJA annual event higher and took it to prestigious levels. 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.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are 34 competitive award categories for grabs this year. We believe they are very motivating. The full complement of the award categories will be shared with you in due course. One of them I can share with you now is that 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.
With membership drive as one of our cardinal goals, we shall be working closely with other journalism and communication training institutions to also come on board.
Ladies and gentlemen, 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.
It is my pleasure to inform you that after today’s launch, the awards will be open for three weeks and close on September 13, 2023. Given the limited time at our disposal, there shall be no extension of the deadline. I encourage members to file their entries early to avoid disappointment. I also wish to advise members to secure strong internet connection for easy and fast submission of entries.
Ladies and gentlemen, as I alluded to earlier, even before this afternoon’s launching ceremony, one of the award categories has been grabbed. EOCO has offered to sponsor the award category on Crime / Court Reporting. We are grateful to the Executive Director for bringing EOCO on board. It is on this positive note that I hereby appeal to Corporate Ghana to also come on board with sponsorship to ensure the success of the awards. We appreciate your support over the years and we trust you will continue to partner with us to raise the bar of excellence in journalism.
We also value the support of all of our traditional partners over the years, including our Diplomatic Partners, the US Embassy. The US Embassy deserves special recognition for its exceptional support to the GJA in recent years.
Ladies and gentlemen, as I indicated earlier, the buzz around this year’s GJA Media Awards is already pitching high and there is no reason for anyone to sit on the bench. Come to the centre and let’s do this business together.
I thank you for your kind attention.
