In a bid to promote professionalism in South Sudan’s media industry, the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) said it will start receiving stories for its second flagship Journalism Excellence Award (JEA) for the second year on Tuesday, 1 October 2024.
In a statement, UJOSS President Patrick Oyet encouraged journalists to submit multiple stories before the deadline.
“We are launching the Journalism Excellence Awards for this year and all of you are invited to submit your stories from 1 October up to 10 November,” he announced. “Due to the complexity of internet infrastructure in the country, the submission of stories should all be shared via awards@ujoss.org.ss.”
Oyet said there will be 10 award categories including; health, business and economy, climate change and environment, food security, humanitarian, gender and disability inclusion, democracy and election, constitution-making process, human rights and peace, and finally culture, youth, and sports.
“All accredited practicing journalists who are members of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan, working for legally recognized national media houses, including freelancers are eligible to participate in this year’s Journalism Excellence Award,” he further stated. “This year the team of judges were carefully selected based on their experience in the media and they include; Nichola Mandil, Gabriel Joseph Shadar, Rejoice Samson, and Mading Ngor Akech Kuai.”
According to Oyet, UJOSS will involve observers from the United Nations Communication Group (UNCG) to ensure transparency in the competition.
The JEA was established in 2023 to acknowledge the hard work of media practitioners in providing authentic, accurate, and reliable information to the public.
“The 2023 Journalism Excellence Award was the first of its kind to be held in the history of media awards in South Sudan and we strongly believe that it will continue to build public trust in the tremendous work done by the journalists in the country,” the UJOSS boss said. “The importance of promoting media credibility and excellence in South Sudan will be highlighted during this year’s award ceremony, which will be held on 30 November.”
UJOSS thanked the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), UNESCO, Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), and all other partners for their constant support in assisting the union in enhancing professionalism in the media.