Cross posted from: Kaiser Family Foundation <KaiserFamilyFoundation@cme.kff.org>
Hopewell Rugoho-Chinono, a Zimbabwean Reporter, Receives Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa and is Named Overall Winner of the 2008 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Award
Menlo Park, CA Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Rugoho-Chinono was named the 2008 recipient of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa and overall winner of the 2008 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards at a July 19 gala event in Accra, Ghana.
The <http://www.kff.org/mediafellows/africanhivaidsjournalism.cfm> Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa recognizes substantive reporting on the broader social and economic impact of the epidemic, as well as reporting that breaks new grounds in public education on the epidemic. One hundred and twenty-eight applicants from 21 African countries vied for the Kaiser award. Mr. Rugoho-Chinonos award-winning documentary, Pain in my Heart, which profiles an HIV-positive mother during her last months, brings attention to the need to expand access to antiretroviral drugs to Africas rural poor. Mr. Rugoho-Chioono reports for Television International, and the documentary aired on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Rugoho-Chinono received the overall winner honor from His Excellency, J.A. Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana.
Well-informed journalism plays a critical role in addressing global health by putting a human face on the challenges, providing vital information and influencing local and global responses, said Drew Altman, President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Through our briefings and site visits, this Award and other initiatives, we continue to support high-quality journalism in Africa and around the world.
2008 marks the third year of the Kaiser Family Foundations involvement with the Awards, and their commitment to the cause of journalistic excellence in this field of reporting is truly impressive, said Tony Maddox, CNN International Executive Vice President and Managing Director. It is particularly encouraging that numbers of entries in this category continue to grow year on year, ensuring that HIV/AIDS awareness remains in the public consciousness.
The Kaiser Family Foundation also presented a high-level discussion forum focusing on HIV/AIDS and African development issues for the more than 200 African media managers, editors and senior reporters gathered in Accra for the annual CNN MultiChoice Awards. In addition, a four-day workshop for the top 15 applicants for the Kaiser Award was organized. Combining expert presentations, roundtable discussion and site visits, the workshop was designed to encourage innovative and more substantive approaches to reporting on HIV/AIDS and the broader impact of the epidemic. The sessions featured such topics as issues in prevention, treatment and care of HIV/AIDS, challenges on reporting on HIV/AIDS, financing and donor funding to combat the epidemic, tools available to journalists to report on HIV/AIDS, and challenges of preventing pediatric and teen HIV infection; and were led by community leaders, academics, journalists, and government experts.
This years top 15 applicants, including Kaiser Award runner-up Zambian reporter Kennedy Gondwe, will travel to Mexico City, Mexico on July 30 for a three-day international journalism briefing for journalists from Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States organized by the Kaiser Family Foundation. They will then attend and report from the International AIDS Conference from August 3 9, 2008.
The Award winners were selected by an independent judging panel nominated by CNN International and MultiChoice chaired by Azubuike Ishiekwene, Executive Director, Punch Nigeria, and including Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, Mail & Guardian, South Africa; Joel Kibazo, Journalist and Media Consultant; Arlindo Lopes, Secretary General of SABA - Southern African Broadcasting Association; Sophie Ly Sow, Regional Communications Officer for Oxfam/West Africa; Kim Norgaard, CNNs Johannesburg Bureau Chief; Brahima Ouedraogo, Senior Radio Reporter/Producer, Radio Nationale du Burkina, and Anna Umbima, journalist and broadcaster. Filipe Correia de Sá, Senior Producer at BBC World Service, was brought in to help judge the Portuguese speaking category.
The CNN Awards were established in 1995 and recognize excellence in a variety of reporting topics. A winner from each of the categories is selected, and an overall winner is chosen from the 16 category winners. The competition is open to African journalists working on the continent for an African-owned media organization that broadcast or published their entry between January and December 2007. The Kaiser Award is part of the Kaiser Family Foundations global effort to improve the breadth and depth of HIV/AIDS reporting, and to increase access by journalists worldwide to the most current information on HIV/AIDS. More information on the Kaiser Award, including clips from its winners, is available online
<http://www.kff.org/mediafellows/africanhivaidsjournalism.cfm> .
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation dedicated to producing and communicating the best possible information and policy analysis on health issues.
Craig Palosky
Henry J. Kaiser Family <http://www.kff.org>
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