Five Nigerians has been nominated for the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the year Awards to be presented in a ceremony in October 2015 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The nominees from Nigeria are Femi Asu, Punch Newspaper; Adewale Olugbenga Emosu, tribuneonlineng.com; Ibanga Isine, Premium Times Newspaper; Klá Túbsún, Blogger at ktravula.com; and Arukaio Umukoro, Punch Newspaper.
The CNN/Multichoice African Journalist awards competition is now in its 20th landmark year and the winner from the previous years will join this year’s finalists for a special evening to celebrate twenty years of the awards.
Mr. John Ugbe, Managing Director of MultiChoice Nigeria, while extending hearty congratulations to the Nigerian nominees urged Nigerian journalists to be objective in their reporting, stating that objectivity promotes excellence in journalism.
Executive Vice-President and Managing Director of CNN International Tony Maddox said this year’s competition received entries from 39 countries across the continent, including French and Portuguese speaking Africa.
“The quality and breadth of entries in this, its 20th, year is testament to the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards’ position as the most prestigious recognition for journalism across the continent. CNN is privileged to be involved in this important initiative to honour the outstanding work across multiple platforms, topics and journalistic disciplines. I salute the finalists for the great work that they have done and look forward to seeing their future achievements,” he stated.
The independent judging panel, chaired by Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa, includes: Debo Adesina, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria; Nima Elbagir, Senior International Correspondent, CNN; Jean-Paul Gérouard, Editor-in-Chief, France Télévisions ; Fernando Gonçalves, Editor, Savana, Mozambique; Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism, University of the Witwatersrand; Joel Kibazo, Director of Communications and External Relations, African Development Bank Group; Amadou Mahtar Ba, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, AllAfrica.
