GJA inaugurates Awards Committee
By Dora Akyaa Asare and Fatima Adam
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has inaugurated its 17th Media Awards Committee in Accra, with a pledge not to compromise on professionalism. The President of the GJA, Ransford Tetteh, who inaugurated the awards committee last Friday at the International Press Center, said his outfit would promote professionalism and high journalistic standards in Ghanaian.
According to him, though journalists receive awards from friends and well-wishers, the GJA Awards was to ensure that journalists do not owe favors to anyone, and thus ensure neutrality in their work.
Thus, the GJA awards should be seen as part of the overall effort by the association to constantly serve as a barometer for measuring the periodic performance of the Ghanaian media, and journalists in particular, he noted.
He pointed out that every Ghanaian and business concerns must be supportive of promoting media excellence, because a free society with a free, independent, and responsible media engenders development and economic growth.
“This is aimed at encouraging public-private, corporate-individual, governmental and non-governmental partnership in the development of the Ghanaian media,” he added.
Mr. Tetteh further stated that the exhibition of the entries received and the inauguration of the awards committee were all measures to ensure a transparent process. According to him, the inauguration of the committee was an opportunity to acknowledge receipt of entries received.
He said the Awards Committee would examine and evaluate 434 entries submitted by contestants this year, as against 250 entries received last year, which, according to him, “is unprecedented in the history of GJA awards.”
He added that the increase in the number of entries was a further indication that the media was one of the fastest growing fields in providing information for the development of the country, stressing, “This shows that the competition was growing in size and stature.”
He said the GJA was convinced that the awards were helping to motivate journalists in the country, and also inspire Ghanaian media to high standards and professionalism, saying, “The GJA will always continue to remind journalists about good work, so that the society will continue to rely on the media.”
He announced that a total of forty three awards were to be won in August this year, and the categories include Journalist of Year, Most Promising Young Journalist, Human Rights (with focus on children), News Reporting Print, Newspaper Lay-out & Design, Sanitation and Water For All, and Oil and Gas, among others.
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