ALLAN NAMU MIGHT JUST WIN

The MultiChoice CNN Awards are scheduled for this Saturday July 18. Kenya’s Allan Namu is greatly tipped to emerge as the overall winner this year…
This year the competition received entries from 836 journalists from 38 countries throughout the continent, including French and Portuguese speaking Africa.

The CNN African Journalist of the Year Award was founded in 1995 by Edward Boateng (formerly African Regional Director for Turner Broadcasting System Inc., CNN’s parent company) and the late Mohamed Amin, to recognise and encourage excellence in journalism throughout Africa.

Photographer Boniface Mwangi banned by Facebook

The first Kenyan photojournalist to win the CNN Multichoice Journalist Award has been banned by social networking site Facebook. Boniface Mwangi who won the CNN Africa Photojournalist of the Year 2008 is starting up a new Facebook profile after his was deleted last week due to his radical status updates.
Commenting on the issue he said, “I was removed from Facebook due to controversial updates calling for political change and the youth to stop hero worshiping tribal leaders who have messed up our country.” One of his last comments before his profile was deleted was “Kenyans elect criminals to parliament all you need is money to get elected.” He had over 1,500 friends.
Boniface is known for his crusade against tribal politics. “I see myself as a visual artist using photography as the vehicle for social change in my country, which has experienced a lot of impunity, the latest manifestation being 2007 December’s political convulsions that left over 1,000 dead and half a million displaced.”
Boniface’s post poll chaos photos have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Sunday Times, International Herald Tribune and BBC Focus on Africa Magazine among other publications. Facebook has meanwhile declined to take down several Holocaust denial sites known for their anti- Semitic statements.

KTN Dominates the CNN MultiChoice Awards

Finalists in the prestigious CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2009 Competition were announced on Tuesday by Azubuike Ishiekwene, Chair of the independent judging panel. The competition is now in its 14th year.
On the list are three KTN journalist; John-Allan Namu, James Moturi Mogaka and John Benson Mwangi. Others are Sammy Muraya of Metro FM, Boniface Mwangi of Expression Today and K24’s Violet Otindo.
The winners of the competition will be announced at an Award Ceremony and Gala Evening at The International Convention
Centre, Durban, South Africa on Saturday 18th July.


Isha Sesay

The hosts for the evening will be Isha Sesay, presenter of CNN weekly programme ‘Inside Africa’, joined on stage by South African eNews Channel presenter Macfarlane Molele.
This year the recipient of the Free Press Africa Award is Nicaise Kibel’bel Oka, of Les Coulisses in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is awarded this prize, for his work in the DRC, and also in recognition of all the journalists in the DRC who have put their lives at risk in telling the story. There are three journalists in particular that we would like to mention who were murdered fulfilling their professional duties:
Pascal Kabungulu (killed 31st July 2005)
Serge Maheshe (killed 13th June, 2007)
Didace Namujimbo (killed 23rd November 2008)