Highlights of the 1st Airtel Media Excellence Awards for tech and ICT journalists and writers
The Airtel Media Excellence Awards took place on 11th July (last Saturday evening) and the event was not that bad at all, with writers, journalists, Airtel staff and partners all showing up, dressed to the nines.
At the event, Mustafa Kapasi, who is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Airtel Zambia, said everyone with access to the internet has capacity to create content and all this is possible because of technology. We are in transition, and how society receives information is changing to more media platforms. He added that these are the first Aitel Media Excellence Awards, but if investment in them continues they will be much bigger next year.
In his speech at the event as well, Godfrey Malama, who is Ministry of Information Permanent Secretary, said that the Government has always been a keen supporter of freedom of expression, especially in the media. He added on that freedom of the media’s expression is guaranteed in the Zambian Constitution, and that the awards could not have come at a better time as Government is trying to promote excellence in the media industry.
Since these awards were specifically about technology, he also stated that Government wants to promote e-Commerce and ICTS in trade and communications, and to promote e-Services, in e-Education and e-Health.
There were 4 categories being considered, print, radio, TV and online publications and the winners were:
- Broadcast TV category: Franchesa Phiri Banda of Muvi TV
- Broadcast Radio category: Derrick Silimina from Joy FM
- Online media category: Sandi Chimpala from Techtrends Zambia
- Print category: Gethsemane (‘Gates’) Mwizabi from Times of Zambia
The overall winner was Gethsemane Mwizabi from the Times of Zambia who won K20000, an iPad, and a month’s paid-for attachment at the Mail and Guardian in South Africa.
Congratulations to all the winners and a big thumbs-up to Airtel for investing in technology media. We hope the next ones are bigger, with more entries, more competition and sponsors, as well as bigger prizes.
