GJA holds Awards Clinic (22/5/09) page 3

A NOVELTY clinic to examine the standard of assessment of the annual awards of the Ghana Journalists Association was held at the International Press Centre in Accra.
The clinic was also intended to educate journalists interested in contesting for GJA awards to know what was required of them.
Addressing the opening session last Wednesday, the President of the GJA, Mr Ransford Tetteh said the clinic, organised as part of the 60th edition of the GJA awards, would improve transparency of the scheme and raise the standards of entries and assessment.
He was hopeful that the clinic would generate cross fertilisation of ideas and address some of the concerns about the awards with the view to making the scheme better to promote excellence in journalism and media practice.
Mr Tetteh acknowledged that the most difficult part of the awards scheme was the selection of winner of the Journalist of the Year award and, therefore, appealed to civil society and media personnel to make an input in the selection process so that whoever won the award would reflect the broad consensus of the awards committee and the general public.
Mr Tetteh said the leadership of the association was convinced that the current mode of submitting entries by all contestants apart from the journalist of the year fell in line with best practices all over the world.
The Vice President of the GJA, Mr Affail Monney said the Journalist of the Year award of the GJA, which had been named “ PAV Ansah Journalist of the Year” was given annually to the person who had consistently shown throughout the year under review to have accumulated a body of journalistic work that the association could be proud of as exemplary for the professional practice and advancement of journalism in Ghana.
He stated that “Through the award, the association seeks to show recognition for and the need to ignite pride and promote excellence in journalism in the country”.
Mr Monney added that the executive of the GJA should be able to defend the award winner and his or her work based on sound journalistic standards and ethical principles even if the selection was surrounded by controversy.
He said in addition to applying the basic journalistic standard of accuracy, balance, relevance, clarity, background, completeness, social impact, fairness, ethical standards and language presentation, the individual to be named the PAV Ansah Journalist of the Year would be subjected to a higher standard of excellence in reporting and writing as well as the over all exhibition of professionalism.
Mr Monney said that only published works in print and broadcasting media between January and December of the previous calendar year were eligible for consideration for the award.
He said that if no individual was considered deserving to be adjudged as meeting the high journalistic standard for the Journalist of the Year, the award would be withheld as a strategy to encourage further improvement of standards of journalism in Ghana.
The Chairman of the GJA Awards Committee in 2008, Mr Berifi Apenteng, Chairman of the Committee in 2007, Mr Kweku Rockson and Dr Doris Dartey, Member of both awards committee took journalist through requirements of the awards and challenges the committees faced in selecting winners for the various awards.
Dr Doris Dartey said 50 per cent of categories did not win awards in the 2006 awards while 44 per cent categories did not win awards either because there were no entries or individuals failed to meet the requirements of the awards.
She, therefore, advised applicants to present their best and ensure they meet all the requirements of the association.