Media workers awarded for excellence in Health Journalism

The Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) on Sunday evening hosted its third Media Awards ceremony, honouring journalists for their contribution to health journalism over the past year.

During the event hosted at the Pegasus Hotel, Country representative of PAHO/WHO, Dr. William Adu Krow pointed to the importance of recognizing the media for their hard work in covering health issues that sensitise the public on certain diseases and preventive measures.

This year saw 97 submissions for the awards in various categories, on topics including the Tobacco Control legislation, the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) Vaccine and the Mass drug administration campaign for filaria.

Representing the Guyana Press Association was last year’s overall winner, Senior journalist at the Guyana Chronicle, Svetlana Marshall who expressed gratitude to the organization for hosting the annual event which motivates media personnel to continue striving for excellence in their line of work.

“What is remarkable is not only the volume of stories that are submitted to the awards, but also the varied subjects that are covered. These awards have pushed journalists to tell stories that are under-reported. In addition, more and more journalists are seeing the need to put a human face to the many health challenges that face the nation,” she noted.

The submissions were judged by a panel of five judges.

Chief Judge, Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin noted that there were 33 submissions in the print category, 24 in the online category, eight in photography and 18 in television among others. She also disclosed that 12 media houses competed in the awards.

“The judges were heartened by the continued excellent journalism and the quality of entries submitted generally,” she pointed out while sharing recommendations for future developments and highlighting some of the challenges faced.

Copping first place in Print News category was Svetlana Marshall, followed by Rabindra Rooplall, both of the Guyana Chronicle.

The Print Feature category was won by Sharda Bacchus of the Stabroek News followed by Chronicle’s Vishani Ragobeer.

Television News category was won by HGPTV’s Christen McLingham who also copped second place.

News Room’s Devina Samaroo copped third place in the Television feature category while NCN’s Lorraine Ward and Anadia Holladar copped first and second place respectively.

The Radio news feature category was won by Capitol News’ Handel Duncan.

Samaroo also copped third place in the Online Feature category while Ragobeer and Vanessa Braithwaithe gained first and second place, respectively.

The online news category was won by Marshall who also got second place followed by Rabindra Rooplall.

Best News photography was won by Adrian Narine followed by Samuel Maughn in second and third place; both of the Guyana Chronicle.

The best feature photography category was won by Maughn followed by Delano Williams in second place.