Winners of the Africa Education Journalism Awards announced

By SSI and agencies

TUNIS, Tunisia- The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), today announced today the results of the Fifth competition of the Akintola Fatoyinbo Africa Education Journalism Award. The results were announced at the African Development Bank –AfDB) by the Chair of the jury, Mr. Sibry Tapsoba, Head of the Division for Tertiary education, Science and Technology and Vocational Training, in the presence of the members of the jury and of the media based in Tunis.

The prize winners this year are:
For categories in articles in French:
- 1st Prize – Rivanola Razafison, from Madagascar for his article « Ecoles électroniques en Afrique – Entre mythe et réalité », published in Le Quotidien dated December 26, 2007 ;
- 2nd Prize – Moussa Zongo from Burkina Faso, for his article « Enseignement supérieur privé – Arnaques et publicités mensongères » published in L’Evénement dated October 2007.

For articles in English:
- 1st Prize – Herbert Oluka, from Uganda, for his article « Uganda’s School Dilemma » published in The East African Magazine dated February 5-11, 2007 ;
- 2nd Prize – Carol Natukinda, from Uganda for his article « Does the Mother Tongue Improve Class Performance » published in The New Vision dated October 9, 2006.
In addition, a special prize is awarded to Daouda Mane and Mamadou Lamine Badji, from Senegal, for the quality of their report titled « Viol, pédophilie, harcèlement sexuel, mariages et maternités précoces à l’école – Les racines du Mal » published in Le Soleil and the exceptional contribution of the newspaper to information on education in Africa. This special distinction recognizes and encourages efforts of African newspapers that have devoted special attention to education and by setting up education desks.

The prizewinners and the editors-in-chief of their publications will be invited to undertake a study visit including seminars that will take place this year in Maputo and in Johannesburg. In addition, the first prizewinner in each language category will receive a cash award of 3000 euros, while second place winners will receive 2000 euros.

The Africa Education Journalism Award is organized by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and its Working Group on Communication for Education and Development (COMED). The award recognizes the best articles on education in Africa written by African journalists in French, English or Portuguese and published in the African press.•