CNN International and Multichoice on Monday launched the CNN Multichoice African Journalists Award for 2008 to be held in Ghana on July 19 this year. The winners of the prestigious annual awards will be announced at a gala ceremony in Accra. The award aims to reinforce the importance of the journalists' role in Africa's development and to recognize journalistic talents across all disciplines. This year, the competition would recognize excellence in 16 categories in the areas of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Economic and Business, Environment, Free Press Africa, Health and Medical and HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa. The other award areas are Print Africa award for best feature in a consumer magazine, photographic awards, Radio and Television General News, Francophone General News, Francophone Print Africa, Portuguese Language General News and Sports Awards sponsored by Global Media Alliance. The overall best winner, The CNN Multichoice African Journalist 2008, would be chosen from the 16 categories and will receive an additional cash prize and a trip to the CNN Centre in Atlanta USA. Sponsors of the awards include Celtel, Coca-Cola Africa, Ecobank, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Camerapix, Safeband Africa Ltd and Global Media Alliance. A prize fund in excess of 250,000 dollars had been provided to ensure that finalists in the 2008 competition enjoyed an all expenses paid programme of activities including workshops, media forum, networking opportunities with editors, business leaders and media owners culminating in the awards ceremony in July. The work should be published between January and December 2007 with proof supplied. Closing date for entries is February 15, 2008 and with selections in May. Mr. Samuel Baimbill-Johnson, General Manager of Multichoice Ghana Ltd said the competition was opened to African Professional journalists, including freelancers across print, television, internet, photographic and radio. He said each category winner would receive a substantial cash prize plus a laptop with modem and printer. He expressed the hope that as many journalists as possible would enter and that the overall best winner should come from Ghana to make the country proud. Mr Edward Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of Global Media Alliance said the networking would provide an opportunity for the journalists to reflect on their work and find solutions to problems that impeded their effective service delivery. He said independent judges with knowledge and experience of journalistic practices in Africa would decide on the winner and that they reserved the right not to select a finalist should the quality of entries fall below the standard. Mr. Ransford Tetteh, President of the Ghana Journalists Association said members had what it took to achieve excellence and that the entries would encourage Journalists to focus more on social and environmental issues apart from politics. He said there were a lot of social and environmental issues that had plagued the country and that extensive reporting on them would help policy makers to tackle such problems. Source: GNA