Savannah News Online Reporting Only What Matters Most
Related Articles
Damongo, Ghana – For the first time since the inception of the Harmattan Awards For Development Journalism in 2017, a female broadcast journalist Joyce Kankam Kolamong with GBC Radio Savannah in the Northern Region, has won the overall best journalist in the radio category at the 2019 edition of the awards.
Ms Joyce Kolamong also emerged first runner up in the television category after JoyNews correspondent in the Upper East Region Albert Sore won the overall best journalist in the category.
Salifu Wononuo, broadcast journalist with Radio Waa emerged the first runner up in the radio category.
Northern Region Ghana Journalist of the Year 2019 and Northern Sector correspondent for Television Africa, Mohammed Kamil Baba, also took the second runner up spot for the television category.
For the print category, Northern Regional Editor of the Business and Financial Times, Samuel Sam was adjudged overall best journalist whereas first and second runner up spots went to Mohammed Fugu, a Daily Graphic reporter in the Northern Region and Yahaya Masahudu, also a correspondent for The Finder newspaper in the same region. Mark Smith, a broadcast journalist with GBC Radio Upper West was also a second runner up.
A total of nine journalists from the print, electronic and television were honoured at the event held in Damongo the Savannah Regional capital.
The Harmattan Awards For Development Journalism is an annual awards scheme of Countrywise Communication, a media and development communication organisation based in Tamale in the Northern Region.
Since 2017, more than 20 journalists have been honoured for their efforts and dedication to promoting development journalism especially in the area of agriculture and its value chain.
The 2019 edition under the theme: “The Role of The Media in Discovering Our Agricultural Potential”, celebrated some of the best crop of dedicated and hardworking agriculture reporters.
The awards was organised by Countrywise Communication in partnership with the Savannah Regional Coordinating Council.
The Savannah Regional Minister, Alhaji Salifu Adam Braimah, urged journalists to focus on issues that would bring development to the area and not those that would create violence and division amongst residents.
He cited the availability of large tracks of land for investment initiatives such as agriculture, real estate, hotel business among others.
“I’ll encourage the media and other key stakeholders to join hands with the SRCC to fight the menace of indiscriminate felling of trees which poses threat to our agriculture potential.
“Let’s take agriculture serious as a people because that is the only thing that hold great potential for our region. It is capable of creating multiple streams of jobs for our teaming youth”, the minister observed.
Mr. Raymond Vuol, Executive Director of Countrywise Communication, also urged government to take steps to address the challenge of lack of tractor services and other farm inputs for women farmers in Northern Ghana.
He also cited the nonavailability of dug outs with enough water to enable women venture into dry season gardening and farming.
“One other challenge is governments inability to consciously ensure the availability of ready markets for smallholder farmers who through several government and private sector initiatives, have increased the production but have gone to waste”, he noted.
The event brought together journalists from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and the Savannah Regions. Also in attendance were students and tutors of the Damongo Agriculture College and agribusiness people.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Philip Liebs
