ECA Press Release No. 15/2005

Addis Ababa, 13 September - ECA and its partners this year will present awards to African journalists who, in their opinion, have made significant strides in promoting the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the continent.

The annual African Information Society Initiative (AISI) media awards will be presented tonight, 13 September, during a conference of African journalists underway in Grahamstown, South Africa. The ceremony will be broadcast live by South African television.

The Highway Africa Conference - which this year is taking place from 12-16 September - brings together the largest number of African journalists.

The AISI awards are aimed at creating greater awareness of the role of ICTs for development, as well as supporting their use by African media.

"The media awards, now in their third year are given by ECA and its partners to African journalists who have made significant efforts in reporting on a non-traditional area - ICT for development," explained Aida Opoku-Mensah, Officer-in-Charge of ECA's Development Information Services Division (DISD).

The partners involved in the endeavour include German Technical Corporation (GTZ), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Institute for Information Communication and Development (IICD) and the Open society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

The first prizewinners are as follows:

• The AISI GTZ 1st Prize print category on Promoting the Information Society, goes to Godfrey Ikhemuemhe from Nigeria. His story "Realising Nigeria's Universal Access" shows how rural villages in Africa are using ICTs to improve food security and achieve economic growth.

• In the AISI GTZ-RADIO category on Promoting the Information Society, the 1st Prize goes to Awussaba Adjowa Magbede, from Togo whose story on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is about Togo blazing the trail, in an area where few governments dare venture.

• In the AISI-GTZ TV category on Promoting the Information Society, the 1st Prize goes to "Satellite and its importance" a story by Bayero Agabi from Nigeria. The story provides a rare balanced view on the debate surrounding Nigeria's launch of satellite communication.

• For the AISI-IICD Media Award on Local Content, the 1st Prize goes to Kitaw Yayehyirad from Ethiopia. His website, cyberethiopia.com demonstrates that Ethiopia's national language, Amharic, is the language of interaction for Ethiopians at home and abroad.

• The AISI-IICD 1st prize award on Local Content Applications goes to Adewole Ojo from Nigeria, who gives the term "endangered species" a broader meaning. In the story "Konyin: Saving local languages from extinction" the writer shows how local people interact around a computer keyboard based on local scripts.

• The 1st prize for the AISI-IDRC Media Award on Reporting on Research and Innovation goes George Mwiti Marete from Rwanda. His article entitled "Internet users to surf in Kinyarwanda next month" highlights Rwanda's investment in software for local language use.

• The 1st Prize for the AISI-IDRC Media Award on Reporting On ICT Policy goes to Sore Ramata from Burkina Faso, whose article "Enseignement au Burkina: le Net a la recherche de son contenu" presents a mature, thoughtful and in-depth discussion of ICT policy in Burkina Faso.

• The AISI-OSIWA 1st Prize for Reporting on ICTs and Rural Communities goes to Theodore Kouadio from Cote d'Ivoire, whose story, "Crise en Cote d'Ivoire: L'Internet a maintenu le contact entre le Nord et le Sud" shows the value of the Internet as a tool for peace-building.

• The AISI-OSIWA 1st Prize: for Best Female Reporter goes to Glory Mushinge from Zambia. Mushinge has been described as an "ICT evangelist with no corporate support." Her story, "Human Rights, Info Society Intertwined" has in-depth and convincing arguments on the intertwined nature of the information society and human rights.

For more details visit: http://www.uneca.org/aisi

Tune in to SABC-TV Africa on the DSTV channel. For programme listing, go to http://www.sabc.co.za/

Issued by the ECA Communication Team
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 1 51-58-26
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Email: ecainfo@uneca.org
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