By Jide Ajani, who was in Cape Town

DIFFICULT TASK: It was bound to be – selection of the best journalist, that is. But it was a task that needed to be accomplished. Of the over 1,400 entries for this year’s CNN/MULTICHOICE AFRICA JOURNALIST AWARD, 27 finalists emerged. And of the  finalists, only 16 winners emerged in the categories up for grabs.

As Isha Sesay and Macfarlane Moleli, the hosts for penultimate Saturday’s event noted, the finalists “should consider themselves winners” in their own right. This is because on the second-largest and second most-populous continent of about 1.033 billion population, being selected as a finalist in this ever difficult business is no ordinary feat.

When a winner is announced for a particular category, the eruption of applause in the main hall of the Cape Town International Convention Centre, CTICC, venue of the awards, was almost always near-deafening. There were three nominees from Nigeria. Of the three Nigerian nominees, two won awards in their respective categories.

The two winners are Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye of Sunday Punch in the UNICEF-sponsored Environment Category, and Tolu Ogunlesi, a freelance journalist for Ventures Africa, Nigeria, in the Coca-Cola Company, Economics and Biz Awards category. Ogunlesi’s story was an investigative report on the Eko Atlantic City.

He dedicated the awards to the millions of down-troden people in Nigeria and around the world. Ogunseye’s story, The Rich Also Cry, focused on pollution in an estate where gaseous metal had created very serious medical challenges. The third nominee from Nigeria, Geoff Iyatse, who works for The Guardian, was defeated by Ogunlesi.

The overall winners, South Africans, Msindisi Fengu and Yandisa Monakali, clinched  the prize for their piece on students’ hostel which looked like prison cells in South Africa.  This was the 18th in the series of the yearly event. Other freelance journalists who won awards were Noicola de Chaud, with a documentary in the Culture category and Florence Dallu in the Radio General News category.

OTHER AWARD WINNERS

One of the most outstanding awards is the Free Press Award always given for bravery and courage. This year’s award went to Woubshet Taye, an Ethiopian journalist, who is serving a jail term in that country.  His wife received the award on his behalf.

The other award winners were Gifty Andoh Appiah, Joy News TV, Ghana, for her story on public toilets, in the TV Bulletin category; Axcel Micael Chenney, of Le Defi Media Group, Mauritius, for his story on a Mauritian body-builder’s seeming extra-judicial killing, in the francophone broadcast category; Adrian de Kock, The Star, South Africa, in the photography category; Selma Inocencia, Rede de Communicacao Miramar, Mozambigue, in the Portuguese Broadcast category; Thanduxolo Jika and Media 24 Investigations Team, for their story on the Lonmin tragedy which dominated headlines in 2012, in the Erricson Digital category; and Lazaro Mabunda of O Pais, Mozambique, in the Portuguese News category.

Other winners included Brenda Okoth of The Star in Kenya, for her story on transgender, in the MSD and Medicine category; Nassima Oulebsir, for her story on the children of the Maquis and their quest for identity in the Francophone print category; Passant Rabie of Egypt Today, for her story on the revolt of football fans and their quest for justice regarding some of theirs killed by the police in Egypt, in the Sports News category; and the duo of Roseline Wangui and Wambu Kurema for their story on Beads of Bondage in the TV Features category, sponsored by IPP Media.

THE PANEL OF JUDGES

JUDGING from the caliber of members of the judging panel which scrutinised the works of the entrants, CNN and MultiChoice signaled the seriousness and intellectual depth of the awards. There were 10 members of repute: Feraial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa, and chairperson of the panel; Debo Adesina, Editor-in-Chief, Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria; Betty Dindi, Managing Editor, QTV, Nation Media Group, Kenya; Jean-Paul Gerouard, Editor-in-Chief, France Televisions; Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism at the University of the WitwatersrandJoel Kibazo, journalist, media consultant and former spokesperson of the Commonwealth Secretariat; Arlindo Lopes, Regional Regulatory GM, MultiChoice, Angola; Arlindo Macedo Oliveira, Assessor to the CEO for Content (Programmes) Radiodifusao Nacional de Angola; Amadou Mahtar Ba, Chief Executive, African Media Initiative (AMI); and Kim Norgaard, CNN Africa Bureau Chief.

THE FREE PRESS AWARD

EXCEPTIONALLY COURAGEOUS: That is the only way to describe the attribute expected of any potential winner of this category of award. The Free Press Africa Award recognises excellence and provides support to African journalists who report at continuing risk to their lives and safety. This year, sadly, the judges had too much choice in a category they hoped would diminish as the continent of Africa grows and takes her rightful place at the table of nations.

But there are still too many areas where the media is not free and where journalists’work is restricted with laws and practices which impact on truly free and fair journalism. In the final assesment, the judges decided to make the award to Woubshet Taye. Mr Taye, who is imprisoned in Ethiopia, after being sentenced under anti-terrorism laws, was convicted for his work as the deputy editor of the Awramba Times. Sentenced to 14 years in prison, earlier this year, he was moved to a facility far from his family.

Ethiopia is a jewel in the African crown for its beauty, its people, its history and, most recently, for its astounding growth rates. It is the judges’ view that journalists like Woubshet Taye and his colleagues, Reeyot Alemu and Eskinder Nega, should be out of prison and working to build the prosperity and the freedom of a new Ethiopia.

The judges make this award in recognition of Mr. Taye’s work and in solidarity with his condition. The judges commend all journalists who continue to bravely report on issues and stories. After the awards ceremony, dinner followed. There was dancing and merriment. The finalists who did not get the awards took it with equanimity, celebrating with the winners.