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By George Mangula
With five days before
entries close for the 2019 Sanlam Financial Journalist of the Year Awards at
midnight on 28 February, Ugandan reporters and others practising financial
journalism in Africa have been asked to
submit their best work for the competition.
The Awards, running for the 45th consecutive year, recognise
the best financial reporting by reporters based in Africa, publishing or
broadcasting commendable journalism about the continent. Representing the
longest running awards dedicated to financial journalism in Africa, their
objective is to support the development of journalism.
The Awards attract keen interest from journalists across the continent. In
2018, 78 journalists representing 58 media organisations submitted 97 entries.
Entrants must submit their submissions through Sanlam’s website.
The African Growth Story category,
which recognises the best journalism covering the significance of business and
investment on the continent, is open to financial journalists based in Africa
who publish and/or broadcast their work on the region. Entries for this category
must focus on the growth of the continent in terms of investment,
infrastructure development, economic progress and related topics. Stories also
should incorporate a continental outlook.
Previous winners of the African Growth Story category include Isaac Anyaogu
of Business Day in Nigeria (2018), Dominic Omondi of The
Standard newspaper in Kenya (2017), and Ancillar Mangena of Forbes
Africa in South Africa (2016).
The other categories are open to journalists working in print, radio, TV and
online media in South Africa. They are: Business/Companies;
Economy; Financial Markets and Consumer
Financial Education
All five categories recognise financial journalists who produced compelling
business stories between 1 January and 30 December 2019.
Additionally, the judging panel bestows special awards, which are:Best
Newcomer;Lifetime Achievement; and Sanlam
Financial Journalist of the Year.
The Special Awards recognise journalists based on the discretion of the judging
panel, which exercises a nomination and rigorous evaluation process.
Isaac Anyaogu from the Business Day newspaper in Nigeria, and former Forbes
Africa writers, Melitta Ngalonkulu (now with Moneyweb) and Aviwe Mtila
(now with eNCA TV) are some of the recent Best Newcomer category winners for
2018, 2017, 2016 respectively.
Neville Otuki, former business
reporter at Energy Siren News in Kenya and a runner up in the best newcomer
category in 2018, says, “Society has critical business stories the public needs
to know. It is important we amplify these stories. Being acknowledged by the
awards for doing so is humbling and equally rewarding, not only for journalists
but for our profession as well.”
Previous winners of the journalist of the year award include Rob Rose editor
of Financial Mail (2018), Sikonathi Mantshantsha, former
editor at Scorpio, the Investigative Unit of Daily Maverick (2017), and Susan Comrie
of AmaBhungane (2016).
