Call for entries for the 2021 MISA Malawi Annual Media Awards

MISA Malawi invites interested paid up members to submit their outstanding published works for the 2021 MISA Malawi Annual Media Awards. The awards will be given out as part of the celebrations to mark 30^th Anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration and 2021 World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), scheduled for May 3, 2021.

Note that the 2021 awards will include a new category named Old Mutual Responsible Business Journalist of the Year Award. The new award will recognise excellent business journalism with a focus on the positive social impact being created by the savings, insurance and investment sector. This new award will run for three years and targets exceptional newspaper, radio, television and online business stories/reports, with each year focusing on specific priority areas. In 2021, the award focuses on ‘The Social and Economic Impact of the Pension Industry in Malawi’ to encourage the media to inform and raise awareness on the role the pension industry plays in an economy.

The deadline for receiving individual entries is Wednesday, March 31, 2021 and Friday, April 23, 2021 for the Raphael Tenthani Columnist and Media House of the Year Awards.

The awards committee will accept entries published or aired between 1st April, 2020 and 31st March, 2021.

MISA Malawi will recognize winners under the following awards:

1. Print and electronic

• Investigative Journalist of the Year Award

• Business and Economics Journalist of the Year Award

• Old Mutual Responsible Business Journalist of the Year Award

• Democracy and Good Governance Journalist of the Year Award

• Red Ribbon/HIV Journalist of the Year Award

• Human Rights Journalist of the Year Award

• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Journalist of the Year Award

• Urban Water Development 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 Award

• Sustainable Development Goals Journalist of the Year Award

• Health Governance Journalist of the Year Award

• Anti – Corruption Journalist of the Year Award

• Adult Learning and Education (ALE) Journalist of the Year Award

• Girl and Women’s Rights Journalist of the Year Award

• Parliamentary Reporting Journalist of the Year Award

• Green Journalist of the Year Award

2. Combined print and electronic

• Sports Journalist of the Year Award

• Photojournalist of the Year Award

• Raphael Tenthani Columnist of the Year Award

3. Electronic only

• Best Farm Radio Programme of the Year Award

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 Raphael Tenthani Columnist of the Year category should be accompanied by motivations and samples of the nominees’ published works.

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 MISA Malawi Awards Committee will evaluate entries based on the following:

• Impact

• Consistency

• Courage

• Investigation

• Gender awareness

• Relevance

• Analysis

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