Development journalism Awards 2018- 44 winners crowned

On 7 November 2018, Rwanda Governance Board in collaboration with other partners held Development Journalism awards (DJA) whereby 44 winners including journalists and media houses were recognized in different categories.

Development Journalism Awards is organized every with the aim to recognize excellence and encourage professionalism in media sector. This year made the record of registering 846 entries, the highest rate of participation the event has ever had since it was introduced in 2012.

The process to select winners involved 24 competitive categories where journalists and media houses submitted entries to be assessed by a jury of experts and 9 categories selected through public votes using a survey and online polls. 

In the competitive categories 43 media houses including online media, TV and Radio stations. Online media outlets dominated the submission of entries with 42.1% while print media participation was the lowest with 7.3%.  The contestants also were composed of 80.2% male while 19.8% were female.

Presenting the report, Mweusi Karake, the chairperson of the jury said that the evaluation considered seven main criteria namely: the choice of topic, relevance, professionalism, ethics, and impact and research efforts.

Mweusi congratulated all participants said that the level of professionalism has improved.

“We have witnessed an improvement in the quality of submitted entries compared to the previous years. The competition was tougher and this is remains a strong boost to professional capacity building” said Mweusi.

Donah Mbabazi, a journalist of the NewTimes who was crowned as journalist of the year expressed contentment saying that the award gives her courage to work harder.

“I am extremely delighted to win the award best journalist of the year. This encourages me to love my job and do it with more dedication,” she said.

Dr. Usta Kaitesi , Acting Chief Executive Officer of RGB said that development journalism awards contribute significantly to the development of media sector.

“These awards instil the spirit of competition among media practitioners. The impressive increase of the number of entries is a good indication of strong ownership by media practitioners. This also means that both journalists and media houses continue to work hard for their efforts to be recognized in development journalism awards,” stressed Dr. Usta

DJA 2018 has also attracted various public institutions to collaborate in the organization of the event and in awarding the best journalists reporting in specific sectors. The key partners and awarding institutions include Office of the Ombudsman, MoH, MIGEPROF, MoE, MINISPOC, RALC, RURA, NURC and RALGA as well as private partners namely Azam TV and Africa24 TV.

Click here to download the list of winners.