2 BNL journos win regional awards





Two journalists from Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL) Publishers of the Daily Times, Malawi News, The Weekend Times, have won regional awards for their articles on poverty, food security and social protection.



BNL’s Supplements Editor Chipiliro Kansilanga has emerged the Southern Africa regional winner for her story, Transferring Cash to Reduce Poverty, which appeared in The Daily Times of March 1, 2010.

Malawi News Weekend Editor Sellina Nkowani is the runner up for her story, Social Cash Transfer; Changes Lives of Poor Malawians, which was published in Malawi News, February 20-26th.

Another Malawian Michael Kaiyatsa, emerged winner for Malawi, for his article, Cash Transfers Giving Hope to Vulnerable Women, published in The Sunday Times of January 31, 2010.

The competition was conducted by Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) following an intensive training it organised in conjunction with FrayIntermedia in five countries in the SADC region between the months of October 2009 to January 2010.

RHVP Media Consultant Brett Davidson indicated that the programme was compelled to come up with the regional awards because the entries from Malawi were simply well-thought and excellent.

“We really had an excellent set of entries from Malawi for our competition, following the training. The standard was high, and it has been very tough trying to decide on a winner,” said Davidson.

About the winning article, Davidson said Kansilanga’s article deserved the prize for its in-depth analysis and scrutiny.

“She did not only tell the story of two families and how they had benefited from social cash transfers, but she also painted the bigger picture through reference to some of the latest research from the field,” said the RHVP boss.

On the other hand, Nkowani profiled a touching story of a destitute woman in Mchinji who has turned her life around with K1, 800 which she gets monthly.

RHVP is yet to announce how much the winners will take home.

Other Malawian journalists who got recognition are Patrick Maulidi and George Kalungwe of Zodiak Broadcasting Station for an excellent radio feature and an article on the same topic on the radio’s website and Martin Chiwanda for his piece in Mkwaso Newspaper.

Covering Poverty, Food Security & Social Protection is an RHVP initiative, funded by the UK Department for International Development and is aimed at increasing and enhancing news media coverage of poverty and poverty policy interventions in the SADC region.

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