NPL journalists scoop Sadc gender reporting awards

Nation Publications Limited journalists Joseph Mwale and Thoko Chikondi were once again the centre of attention in Namibia when they were named best Sadc Gender Awards winners at the Gender and Media Summit in Windhoek.

Mwale and Chikondi emerged winners in the print and photojournalism categories respectively.

This is not the first time for Mwale, who is NPL’s Mzuzu Bureau Supervisor to win the prestigious award. Last year, he was named the best Gender Reporting Award winner in the same category, while Chikondi, a photojournalist recently won World Bank’s End Poverty Competition photojournalist award for telling the End Poverty Story through photography.

Speaking at the gala dinner on Thursday, chief executive officer of Gender Links Colleen Lowe-Morna commended the media for supporting and promoting gender equality.

She said underepresentation of women in media is a global phenomenon, but hailed Malawi, Mozambique and Botswana for making progress in women sources.

The awards are aimed at encouraging the media to put gender issues at the heart of news coverage in line with Sadc Gender Protocol.

The Sadc Gender Protocol is a unique sub-regional instrument that brings together existing continental and global commitments to achieving gender equality. n