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Press Releases
Western Africa regional winners for BBC Africa Radio Awards
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The third and final regional heats have taken place for the first BBC
Africa Radio Awards which celebrate the excellence of English-language radio
journalism in Africa.
After listening to hours of entries at British Council
offices in Accra, Ghana, a panel of judges decided which radio stations and
journalists from the Western Africa region will go through to the competition's
pan-African awards final in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2007.
The Western Africa judging panellists were chosen for their professionalism,
knowledge of the media and passion for radio.
They included Professor Dora Akunyili,
Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and
Control of Nigeria, and BBC producer and presenter, Bola Mosuro.
Also on the
panel was Ghanaian student Selase Kwawu who won his seat by entering an essay
on the subject How Radio Changed My World to the BBC's interactive breakfast
programme, Network Africa.
Those going through to the finals are:
 Radio Station of the Year is Joy FM from Ghana who demonstrated that their
audiences are central to their programming;
New Radio Station of the Year is Citi FM from Ghana for demonstrating
creativity, originality and ambition for a young station in an already crowded
radio market;
News Journalist of the Year is Kofi Owusu of Joy FM for his story on a
government official whose actions brought into question the issue of conflict
of interests among public officials. Kofi's tenacity demonstrated his skills
as a journalist;
Local On-Air Campaign of the Year goes to Joy FM for exposing to audiences the
heartbreaking story of a seven-year-old girl who was raped, and bringing the
issue of the abuse of young girls to a national forum. The station also raised
funds for her treatment;
Interactive/Talk Show of the Year goes to the breakfast show on Citi FM in
Ghana. The lively but challenging topics discussed over the past year
included: irresponsible fathers; sexual favours for employment; and free
condoms for students;
Young Broadcaster of the Year is Ibukunoluwa Sammi from Ray Power FM in Nigeria
for her confident presentation style and engaging personality.
A winner for Sports Journalist of the Year was not selected as the material
submitted did not meet competition standards.
The Eastern Africa regional winners and the Southern Africa regional winners were announced earlier this month.
Notes to Editors
The BBC considered radio stations and journalists from the following countries
for the Western Africa regional finals: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Cape Verde, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea
Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria,
Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Western Sahara.
BBC World Service broadcasts more than 25 hours of programmes a week
specifically for Africa.
Almost 20 million people listen in English each week
right across the continent.
The BBC also broadcasts to Africa in Arabic,
French, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Somali and Swahili.
It is available on
radio and online and has a daily audience of more than 60 million listeners in sub-Saharan Africa on shortwave and on FM.
BBC World Service
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