By Edward Acquah
Accra, Aug. 25, GNA – The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has announced the opening of entries for the 27th GJA Media Awards to celebrate professional journalism and media practitioners in the year 2022.
The submission of entries opened Thursday afternoon and would be closed on September 13, 2023.
Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, the President of the GJA, launched the Awards at a ceremony in Accra.
There are 34 competitive award categories, with the Best Journalist of the Year, the P. A. V. Ansah Journalist of the Year, Female Journalist of the Year, and the Komla Dumor Most Promising Journalist of the Year being the topmost.
Journalists, who are members of the GJA and are in good standing, are required to visit awards.gjaghana.org to file their entries online in the various categories before the deadline.
This year’s GJA Media Awards would be held at the Accra International Conference Centre on Saturday, October 28, 2023, on the theme: “Leveraging media freedom to sustain the democratic and security architecture: the litmus test of 2024 elections”.
Mrs Jean Mensa, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, has been announced as the keynote speaker for the event.
Mr Dwumfour encouraged journalists to file their entries on time and cautioned that the deadline for the submission of entries would not be extended.
He said among the innovations in this year’s categories was the introduction of the Best Radio/TV Programme for Ghanaian Languages.
He said unlike the previous awards, which had separate categories for Best Radio/TV Programme in six local languages, the Association had 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,” Mr Dwumfour said.
He said the reintroduction of the Student Journalist Award was to encourage trainee journalists to have a strong appetite for professional excellence and high journalistic standards even before they joined the world of work.
He appealed to corporate organisations to support the GJA to make this year’s ceremony memorable.
Mr Kofi Yeboah, the General Secretary of the GJA, said only paid-up members of the GJA qualified to submit entries for the award.
He said the GJA Media Awards “offers a sense of pride to journalists” and encouraged GJA members in good standing to participate in the exercise.
Commissioner of Police (COP) Madam Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the Executive Director of Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), who chaired the launch, said the Office was delighted to be associated with the GJA Awards.
She said emerging crimes such as cybercrime should be of concern to journalists and help to educate the public to take their personal online security seriously.
COP Addo-Danquah also encouraged journalists to verify crime-related stories with EOCO to ensure accurate reportage.
GNA