Nigeria’s Tolu Ogunlesi and Toyosi Ogunseye Shines at the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2013

Collins Khumalo CEO MultiChoice South Africa, winners Msindisi Fengu and Yandisa Monakali and Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President, Global Relations CNN Worldwide

The best of Nigerian journalism was celebrated Saturday night at the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2013 Awards.

The country shone in two categories – Economics & Business and Environmental.

The winning Nigerian submissions, chosen from among 1387 entries from 42 nations across the African continent, are as follows:

Coca Cola Company Economics & Business Award: Tolu Ogunlesi, Ventures Africa

Environment Award: Toyosi Ogunseye, Sunday Punch

The Awards, which rotate location each year in tribute to their pan-African credentials, were held at a Gala ceremony hosted by CNN and MultiChoice at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, South Africa, this evening, Saturday 12 October.

Member of the judging panel, General Manager, Regulatory and Corporate, Angola and Mozambique, MultiChoice Africa Ltd, Arlindo Lopes, said: “An excellent production. Great shots, good sound and the right soundbites made this captivating story a winner!  Nicola de Chaud demonstrated great skills in reporting, researching and story-telling, and an effective use of TV that stood out amongst the other entries.”

Tolu Ogunlesi

Now in its 18^th year, the Awards are supported by a range of prestigious sponsors: The Coca-Cola Company; Ecobank; Ericsson; IPP Media, Tanzania; MSD; UNICEF and A24 Media.

The Awards’ 27 finalists from 12 countries enjoyed an all-expenses paid four day programme of workshops, media forums and networking, and had the opportunity to see some of the sights of Cape Town.

Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President, Global Relations for CNN Worldwide said: “Once again the awards have highlighted the depth and strength of journalism in Africa. These men and women have proven that top notch journalism is alive and prospering, and Africa will have its stories told to the world.”

Imtiaz Patel, Group CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, congratulated the winners of this year’s awards: “Thank you to each of you for telling the stories of Africa and its people to the world. We are proud to play a role in amplifying your voices and the voices of other journalists across the African continent.”

Ways to Watch the African Journalist Awards:  

Viewers across the continent and across the world will be able to watch the African Journalist Awards in the following ways:

• M-Net will broadcast the ‘Highlights Programme’ of the Award Ceremony and on AfricaMagic
• Broadcasters in 45 countries on the African continent will be transmitting the ‘Highlights Programme’ during October, November and December

• Internationally, the ‘Highlights Programme’ will be shown on BEN TV and obetvonline.com in the UK, The Africa Channel in the United States / UK and on RTP Africa.

The overall CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2013 wins a substantial cash prize, a visit to CNN Centre in Atlanta, to attend the three week CNN Journalism Fellowship. All finalists receive a cash prize, and all category winners receive a laptop computer and printer.