MISA Malawi is inviting interested paid up members to submit their outstanding published works for the 2020 MISA Malawi annual media awards. The awards will be given out as part of the celebrations to mark the 2020 World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), scheduled for Sunbird Capital Hotel in Lilongwe on Saturday, May 2.
The awards will include the following four new categories:
(a) Adult Literacy Education (ALE) Journalist of the Year Award, to promote Adult Literacy Education and will recognise exceptional newspaper, radio, television and online adult literacy and education stories/reports with a particular focus on any or all of the following areas:
- The vital contribution of ALE in Malawi
- Examples of best practice in holistic / multi-sectoral ALE
- National challenges in ALE and measures to tackle them
- ALE as key to individual, community and national development
The award will be sponsored by DVV International, a German NGO working in the field of Adult Literacy and Education in Malawi and globally.
(b) Girl and Women’s Rights Journalist of the Year Award to recognise outstanding stories which promote girls and women’s rights issues. The award seeks to create desirable conversations about girls and women’s rights in various spheres. The award will be sponsored by Plan International.
(c) Best Parliamentary Reporting Journalist of the Year Award which seeks to recognise and stimulate quality, in-depth, accurate, and objective coverage of the affairs of Parliament. Ultimately, the award will increase the public’s understanding of the following:
- Role of Parliament in Malawi’s democracy and socio-economic development;
- Contribution of Parliament to Malawi’s democracy and socio-economic development;
- Factors underpinning Parliament’s performance in the country’s democracy agenda, and socio-economic development efforts.
The award will be sponsored by the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) in partnership with the Parliament of Malawi through the Malawi Parliament Enhancement Project (MPEP).
(d) Green Journalist of the Year Award sponsored by the European Union (EU) in Malawi in line with its recognised global leadership and transitioning to green societies and green economies. The aim of the award is to showcase investigations into projects or initiatives that may have positive and negative impact on the environment. The award also seeks to bring out the unheard stories of those who are mostly affected by climate change and environmental degradation.
These include but not limited to:
- Innovative green technologies,
- climate smart approaches in agriculture,
- environmental conservation
- and it can also be connected to business e.g green finance.
On this basis, the 2020 MISA Malawi Annual Media Awards will have the following categories:
a) New categories:
- Best Adult Literacy Education Journalist of the Year Award: Print and Electronic
- Best Girl and Women’s Rights Journalist of the Year Award: Print and Electronic
- Best Parliamentary Reporting Journalist of the Year Award: Print and Electronic
- Best Green Journalist of the Year Award: Print and Electronic
b) MISA Malawi Traditional awards
i. Print and electronic
- Investigative journalist of the year award
- Business and economics journalist of the year award
- Democracy and good governance journalist of the year award
- Red Ribbon/HIV Journalist of the Year Award – NAC
- Human rights journalist of the year award
- Water, Sanitation and Hygiene journalist of the year award
- Lilongwe Water Board journalist of the Year
- ICT journalist of the year award
- Paediatric and adolescence HIV journalists of the year award
- Public infrastructure management journalist of the year award
- Health Research Journalist of the Year
- Sustainable Development Goals journalist of the Year
- Health Governance Award
- Anti – Corruption Award
ii. Combined print and electronic
- Sports journalist of the year award –
- Photo journalist of the year award –
- Blogger of the year
- Raphael Tenthani Columnist of the year
iii. Electronic only
- Best Farm Radio programme of the year award
- Talk Show Host of the year award
c) MISA Malawi will also recognize the following categories:
- Overall Winner Award
- Life-time achiever award
- Print media house of the year award
- Electronic media house of the year award: Radio
- Electronic media house of the year award: Television
- Electronic media house of the year award: Online-
MISA Malawi members will be required to vote/nominate their respective winners under Lifetime Achiever and Print and Electronic Media House of the year awards. Entries for Talk Show Host, Blogger and Ralph Tenthani Columnist of the year categories should be accompanied by motivations and samples of the nominees’ published works. These should be emailed to misaawards@gmail.com copied to director@misamalawi.org on or before April 30, 2019.
Media houses are also free to nominate themselves for the Media House of the Year Award in line with the rules and regulations governing the awards in question. The media house of the year awards will be open for nomination between 15th and 30th April, 2019.
The MISA Malawi awards committee will evaluate entries based on the following:
- Impact
- Consistency
- Courage
- Investigation
- Gender awareness
- Analysis
The awards committee will accept entries published or aired between 1st April, 2019 and 31st March, 2020. The deadline for receiving individual entries is March 31, 2020 and April 30, 2020 for institutional Individuals can only send a maximum of two entries per category.
Entries should be sent or hand-delivered to the following address:
Secretary for the awards committee
MISA Malawi Secretariat
Mtolankhani House
Off-Lilongwe Kasiya Road
Acacia, Lilaga Community
P.O. Box 30463,
Lilongwe 3
For inquiries, please call the following numbers: +265 (0)1 754 310 or +265 (0) 999 327 311
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