The World Journalism Institute has announced the recipients of the Joel Belz International Media Fellowships for 2009. WJI Director Robert Case said, "Joel Belz comes from a distinguished family of churchmen who were communicators. He, himself, is a pioneer in news gathering with Christian sensibilities. The institute is honored to be associated with the Belz name." The 2009 fellowships have been awarded to nine African Christian journalists to enable them to attend the annual World Journalism Institute Conference for Minority Christian Journalists which is held in partnership with the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists this year in Tampa, Fla. The WJI conference is Thursday, August 6, with a special reception for the foreign journalists on Friday, August 7. The NABJ convention will be held Wednesday, August 5 through Sunday, August 9. The fellowship award of $2,500 is used to cover conference/convention expenses. The Belz Fellows are Segun Adeoye (Nigeria), Shirley Asiedu-Addo (Ghana), Surajudeen Olakunle Awosiyan (Nigeria), Gerald Bareebe (Uganda), Chi Ernest Cho (Cameroon), Florence Mutesi (Rwanda), Sunday Oguntola (Nigeria), Martin Luther Oketch (Uganda) and Tom Osanjo (Kenya). "We had enormous interest from African journalists for our fellowships so those chosen are outstanding writers. We look forward to expanding the program to other regions of the world in coming years," Case said. The World Journalism Institute exists to recruit, equip, place and encourage Christians in the mainstream newsrooms of America first and then the world. The Belz Media Fellowship is named for Joel Belz, longtime president of God's World Publications, the parent company of the World Journalism Institute. Source: BlackNews.com