The Namibian shines at media awards

THE annual Namibia Media Awards Journalist of the Year award has once again come The Namibian’s way, with Tangeni Amupadhi receiving the prize at the annual Namibia Media awards on Friday night.

It is the second year the awards have been held. Last year’s winner, Werner Menges of The Namibian, was runner-up this year.Amupadhi won the Investigative and Political categories as well as second place in the Hard News section with Desiree Christeles, which Menges won.The Namibian’s Kobus Oosthuizen won the Economics Reporting category with Werner Menges as runner-up.In the photography section, The Namibian’s Tanja Bause was awarded second prize for her portfolio.The best student award went to Desiree Christelis for her reporting on the Windhoek floods, which she wrote while interning at The Namibian.The German daily the Allgemeine Zeitung also put in a strong showing.Reporters from the newspaper won the Special Interests (Kirsten Kraft), Sport (Irmgard Schreiber) and Photography (Dirk Heinrich) categories.Schreiber was second runner-up for overall prize.Also at the occasion, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) of Namibia awarded the special Freedom of Expression Award to Director of the Legal Assistance Centre Norman Tjombe.”Only with the full enjoyment of human rights by all, will we have a perfect democracy,” said Tjombe, who dedicated his award to the founders, former directors and all staff of the LAC who continued to promote a culture of human rights in Namibia.Tjombe also acknowledged journalists who fearlessly reported about the country and its people and the first recipient of the award last year, Bishop Zephania Kameeta.Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab reminded the media of its responsibility in fostering democracy by empowering people with knowledge – a role, he said, was shared by Government.”Government and the media could sometimes fight it out as adversaries but not as enemies.All sides need each other to be worthy public servants,” he said.The awards were introduced by Misa Namibia last year to promote excellence in journalism.This year all but one award went to print journalists.The electronic categories were dropped because of a lack of entries and a reported boycott by the national broadcaster.The few electronic entries received competed with print submissions.The Namibian also scooped four third prizes – Maggi Barnard for Environmental Reporting, Christof Maletsky (Health) and Lindsay Dentlinger (Hard News and Economics).Second prize in the Investigative category went to Stephan Fischer of the Allgemeine Zeitung and third prize to Dani Booysen of Republikein.Hugh Ellis (freelance) took second place in the Political Reporting category and Jo-Mare Duddy of Die Republikein third place.Sarah Taylor of The Big Issue magazine clinched first place in the Health Category.Katutura Community Radio’s Linda Baumann, Gina Tibinyane and Ryan Schwartz took top honours in the Community Media section, with Risco Lumamezi of Caprivi Vision taking second place.Last year’s winner, Werner Menges of The Namibian, was runner-up this year.Amupadhi won the Investigative and Political categories as well as second place in the Hard News section with Desiree Christeles, which Menges won.The Namibian’s Kobus Oosthuizen won the Economics Reporting category with Werner Menges as runner-up.In the photography section, The Namibian’s Tanja Bause was awarded second prize for her portfolio.The best student award went to Desiree Christelis for her reporting on the Windhoek floods, which she wrote while interning at The Namibian.The German daily the Allgemeine Zeitung also put in a strong showing.Reporters from the newspaper won the Special Interests (Kirsten Kraft), Sport (Irmgard Schreiber) and Photography (Dirk Heinrich) categories.Schreiber was second runner-up for overall prize.Also at the occasion, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) of Namibia awarded the special Freedom of Expression Award to Director of the Legal Assistance Centre Norman Tjombe.”Only with the full enjoyment of human rights by all, will we have a perfect democracy,” said Tjombe, who dedicated his award to the founders, former directors and all staff of the LAC who continued to promote a culture of human rights in Namibia.Tjombe also acknowledged journalists who fearlessly reported about the country and its people and the first recipient of the award last year, Bishop Zephania Kameeta.Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab reminded the media of its responsibility in fostering democracy by empowering people with knowledge – a role, he said, was shared by Government.”Government and the media could sometimes fight it out as adversaries but not as enemies.All sides need each other to be worthy public servants,” he said.The awards were introduced by Misa Namibia last year to promote excellence in journalism.This year all but one award went to print journalists.The electronic categories were dropped because of a lack of entries and a reported boycott by the national broadcaster.The few electronic entries received competed with print submissions.The Namibian also scooped four third prizes – Maggi Barnard for Environmental Reporting, Christof Maletsky (Health) and Lindsay Dentlinger (Hard News and Economics).Second prize in the Investigative category went to Stephan Fischer of the Allgemeine Zeitung and third prize to Dani Booysen of Republikein.Hugh Ellis (freelance) took second place in the Political Reporting category and Jo-Mare Duddy of Die Republikein third place.Sarah Taylor of The Big Issue magazine clinched first place in the Health Category.Katutura Community Radio’s Linda Baumann, Gina Tibinyane and Ryan Schwartz took top honours in the Community Media section, with Risco Lumamezi of Caprivi Vision taking second place.