Graphic's Fugu adjudged overall best ...At maiden Inclusive and Anti-Conflict Journalism awards
The Northern Regional Correspondent of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mohammed Fugu, has been recognised as the overall best reporter in inclusive and anti-conflict journalism awards, 2023.
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The award, which is the first of its kind in Ghana, was organised jointly by Minority Rights Group International and the Media Platform on Environment and Climate Change (MPEC), a non-governmental organisation with funding support from the European Union (EU).
Fugu's story, titled: "Left behind: Climate change threatens PWDs in Northern Ghana" also emerged as the best report in the Print/newspaper category of the contest.
For his prize, Fugu was presented with award shield and some cash in addition to the medal, certificate and the cash prize he won for the Print category.
This brings to two, the number of professional-related awards Fugu has won this year.
At the recently held Ghana Journalists Awards, he was adjudged the 2022 Overall Best Journalist for the Northern, North East and Savannah regions.
Other winners
Ghanaian Times’ Benedicta Gyimaah Folley won the second runner-up position in the Print/newspaper category, while Edward Acquah of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) won the first place in the online category with his colleague from the same media house, Anthony Apubeo, placing second.
A Tamale-based reporter for Rainbow Radio/Kesmi FM, Prince K. Tamakloe, won the Radio category and Tahiru Abdul-Washiru, Asaase Radio's Savanna Region correspondent, placed second in that category.
All the category winners received medals, certificates and cash prizes with their second-runners-up receiving certificates and some cash.
Inclusiveness
The Inclusive and Anti-conflict Journalism Awards seeks to recognise the most outstanding journalistic reporting pieces on conflict, minority/indigenous groups, climate change, migration and development issues in the country.
The Executive Director of MPEC, Ama Kudom Agyemang, said the award scheme was initiated not only to celebrate the outstanding work of journalists but also to inspire others to follow in their footsteps, using the power of media to foster unity and understanding.
She indicated that the event was one of the activities under the "Engaging Media and Minorities to Act for Peacebuilding (EMMAP)", which is a multi-country project funded by the EU and was being implemented in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
"EMMAP is conceptualised to address issues concerning exclusion and discrimination against minority and indigenous communities, migrants, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees," she said.
Professionalism
A former Dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies of the University of Ghana, Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, charged journalists to remain professional and report objectively on issues that impacted the lives of the people, particularly the less privileged.
The Vice-President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Linda Asante Agyei, commended the organisers for instituting the initiative to honour journalists, saying it would go a long way to whip up journalists’ interest in championing the interest of the less privileged in society.