Category: News

On Monday 29 May 2017, Media Monitoring Africa Announced the rankings for the final stories submitted by the 2016 Isu Elihle Awards.

The Awards which were launched in November last year in partnership with Save the Children International and Media Network on Child Rights and Development in Zambia seek to encourage fresh reporting, innovative approaches and insightful investigations that give children a voice and elevate the status of the child in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Watch the Interview with SABC’s Morning Live.

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) is proud to announce South African based journalist, Louise Ferreira, as the winner of the organisation’s Isu Elihle Awards launched in November last year.

Translated from IsiZulu to mean “Great Idea”, the awards seek to encourage fresh reporting, innovative approaches and insightful investigations that seek to give children a voice and elevate the status of the child in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Ferreira receives a cash prize of ZAR 25 000 for her in-depth journalism which explores the quality of sex education in South African schools. The story which was published by Mail & Guardian in April was ranked first by a panel of judges including child media monitors, representative partners and media practitioners.

One of the judges Phemelo Motene of Talk Radio 702 commended Ferreira’s reporting: “It was wonderful how she addressed the mammoth task of education and sexuality in a manner that could be consumed lightly which I think is very innovative.”

Tanzania’s Abdallah Bakari-Nassoro, lands the second prize of ZAR 15 000 for his story published by the local Guardian which highlighted child domestic and sex work in the country. MMA awards the final prize of ZAR 10 000 to Judith Atim from Uganda, whose three-part radio series broadcast by Daily Monitor, exposed the abuse of children in the country’s prisons.

MMA has partnered with Save the Children International and Media Network on Child Rights and Development in Zambia for the awards. The top three finalists are offered financial support and mentorship to develop their concepts and publish their stories in mainstream news media.

Director at MMA William Bird says, “We congratulate all three finalists on their hard work and encourage other journalists and newsrooms to participate in this initiative.”

The applications for this year’s awards have been opened as part of National Child Protection Week. All journalists and writers from Eastern and Southern Africa are again encouraged to enter the competition before the deadline on 30 June 2017.

For more details, terms and conditions as well as the application form visit the Isu Eihle Award’s website www.isuelihle.org

For enquiries please contact:

William Bird
williamb@mma.org.za

Or

Ayabulela Poro
ayabulelap@mma.org.za

Tel: +27 (0)11 788 1278

Isu Elihle Awards
Rewarding Innovative journalism about children

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The final stories for the 2016 Isu Elihle Awards have finally been submitted. During the month of May, a panel of judges had the difficult job of adjudicating the submitted and published stories. The panel included child media monitors, media practitioners and representatives from Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), Save the Children International, Media Network on Child Rights and Development.

The stories will be judged according to a set criteria which includes: Originality, Inclusion of Children’s Voices, Promotion of Children’s Rights and Quality of Reporting.

In case you need a reminder, these were the 2016 finalists:

• Judith Atim (Uganda) whose story delved into Ugandan children in conflict with the law and the challenges they face in accessing justice and the conditions of the centres where they are detained.
• Abdallah Akim Nassoro (Tanzania) who placed the spotlight on child domestic work in Tanzania, its conflict with the law and acceptance socially and culturally and the risks it poses for children in the country.
• Louise Ferreira (South Africa) who investigated the quality of sex education in South African schools including a focus on bodily autonomy, sexual orientation and consent.

Once the adjudication process is finalised, the winners will be ranked and awarded the following cash prizes: ZAR 25 000 (Overall Winner), ZAR 15 000 (Second place) and ZAR 10 000 (Third place).

The rankings will be announced by MMA at the end of May.

JUDITH ATIM (UGANDA)

Judith Atim is a Ugandan Journalist currently working with 93.3 KFM/ Monitor Publications Ltd in Kampala, where she has been employed for the last four years. She is an Alumnus of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the premier professional exchange program of the US Department of State.She is also a third year student of Mass Communication at the Islamic University in Uganda-Kampala Campus.

In October 2016, she won The Uganda Water Sanitation Hygiene (WASH) Media Awards for the radio feature category.  Her winning story focused on the challenges rural communities face in accessing clean and safe water.

In April 2016, she was nominated for the African Centre for Media Excellence in Uganda awards in the categories of business, politics, and Justice, Law and Order Sector as well as the overall Nile Breweries Excellence in Journalism Award. In November 2015, she received the Global Media Enterprise Award for Best Radio News Anchor- English category. She was voted by students of media studies from several universities and institutions in Uganda for being an inspiration to many.

ABDALLAH BAKARI-NASSORO

Abdallah Bakari Nassoro is a correspondent of The Guardian a Tanzanian local daily newspaper based in Mtwara region with experience of 14 years in journalism field. He is second year student of Open University of Tanzania (OUT) pursuing Bachelor of Art in Mass Communication, after obtaining a diploma in journalism from Royal College of Tanzania in 2009.

In different times he had worked with Mwananchi, The Citizen and Mwanaspoti, Mtazania and Majira newspapers as staff correspondent. In 2010 he was selected to join quality programme for correspondent offered by Media Focus on Africa in Collaboration with Tanzania Media Foundation (TMF)

In 2013 he was elected to be executive secretary of Mtwara region Press Club (MTPC) and later hired to offer training to students pursuing advance certificate in journalism course at Musoma Utalii College in Lindi campus for three years. During his seven years of working in print media he succeeded to achieve five awards

In 2015, He received the Excellence in Journalism Award in Agriculture reporting issued by Naliendele Agricultural Research Institute and in 2011, was awarded the Excellence in Journalism Awards Tanzania in the Photojournalism Category and Excellence in Journalism Awards Tanzania of the Print Media in AIDS/HIV category issued by Media Council of Tanzania (MCT). Again in 2011, he received the Award in Couples HIV counseling and Testing Media Writing Competition issued by Association of Journalists Against Aids of Tanzania (AJAAT).

LOUISE FERREIRA

On Monday, 8 November 2016, South African based media watchdog, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), in partnership with Media Network on Child Rights and Development (MNCRD) in Zambia, and Save the Children International (SCI) launched the inaugural Isu Elihle Awards at Google South Africa in Byranston, Johannesburg.

The awards have invested ZAR100 000 into child-centred journalism and seek to encourage fresh reporting, innovative angles and insightful investigations that seek to give children a voice and elevate the status of the child in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Speaking at the launch, Joe Thloloe, Director in the Press Council of South Arica, explained, “Isu Elihle is isiZulu and could be translated into English as a beautiful, great or simply a neat solution.” He added how the awards, “…couldn’t have been conceived at a better time than this when the young are again asserting themselves through uprisings like #FeesMustFall and others…These awards also strike at many other stereotypes and seeks to ignite a revolution in its own right.”

The top three finalists who submitted their story ideas between 5 October to 3 November and who were selected amongst an impressive 48 entries by a panel of adjudicators were announced during the ceremony. They are:

Abdallah Bakari Nassoro (Tanzania)

The Guardian Correspondent

Topic: Domestic work and child violence in Tanzania

Judith Atim (Uganda)

The Monitor News Anchor/Reporter

Topic: Access to justice by children in conflict with the law in Uganda

Louise Ferreira (South Africa)

Freelance journalist

Topic: Sex education in schools “What children don’t know will hurt them”

Each finalist will receive a sum of ZAR 17 000 in financial support to develop their ideas into publishable material. Their published stories will then be ranked and each stands a chance to win: ZAR 25 000 (Overall Winner), ZAR 15 000 (Second place) and ZAR 10 000 (Third place). The rankings will be announced early next year once all the journalists have completed their stories.

Farida Bascha of Save the Children Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa, who joined the ceremony together with the finalists from East Africa in dual celebrations in Nairobi via Google Hangouts, congratulated the finalists, “We look forward to collaborating with you on your stories which we know will go a long in advancing the rights of child.”

MMA Isu Elihle Coordinator, George Kalu said, “We have been so encouraged by the imaginative response and quality of entries submitted that we are looking to see how we can support some of the other highly commended entries.” William Bird, Director at MMA added, “We will contact those journalists shortly as we must use this opportunity to ensure that we can expand the impact of the awards to reflect on the various issues affecting children on the continent, these awards encourage and inspire, and we are thrilled to have launched them”.