Merck Foundation and African First Ladies celebrate the winners of “Stay at Home” Media Awards to raise Awareness about coronavirus.

15th October 2020: Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany announced the winners of “Stay at Home” Media Recognition Awards for African Countries. The theme of the awards was ‘Raising Awareness on how to Stay Safe and Keep Physically and Mentally Healthy during Coronavirus Lockdown’ with the aim to separate facts from myths and misconceptions.The “Stay at Home” Media Recognition Awards were introduced in partnership with African First Ladies of Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Namibia, Niger, Guinea Conakry, Burundi, Central African Republic (C.A.R.), Chad, Zimbabwe, Zambia, The Gambia, Liberia and Congo Brazzaville, Angola and Mozambique.

Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation emphasizes, “I am very proud of our winners. We received a tremendous response from African journalists in form of their entries. I truly believe that Media plays a crucial role in educating and sensitizing our communities about health and sensitive issues such as COVID-19, therefore, through the awards, we are recognizing the distinguished reportage and the exceptional work of journalists who frequently covered this topic in their countries”.

Here are the winners from Southern African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of Malawi, H.E. MONICA CHAKWERA; The First Lady of Namibia, H.E. MONICA GEINGOS; The First Lady of Zambia, H.E. ESTHER LUNGU and The First Lady of Zimbabwe, H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA:

SOUTHERN AFRICAN COUNTRIES

ONLINE CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• -The Herald, ZIMBABWE (500 USD)

 And

• -Botswana Guardian & The Midweek Sun, BOTSWANA (500 USD)

And

• -Unwrap.online, NAMIBIA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Daily News, ESWATINI (300 USD)

And

• -  The African Argument, ZIMBABWE (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• - MW Nation, MALAWI (200 USD)

PRINT CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Namibia Media Holdings, NAMIBIA (500 USD)

And

• - Zambia Daily Mail, ZAMBIA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Zambia Daily Mail, ZAMBIA (300 USD)

      And

• - Independent Senior Reporter, ZIMBABWE (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• - News Day, ZAMBIA (200 USD)

MULTIMEDIA CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

•   -  LENZ TV, SOUTH AFRICA (500 USD)

And

• - Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, NAMIBIA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, NAMIBIA (300 USD)

And

• - Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, MALAWI (300 USD)

RADIO CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Namibian Broadcasting Cooperation, NAMIBIA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - The Children's Radio, SOUTH AFRICA (300 USD)

And

• - Zodiak Broadcasting Station, MALAWI (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• - Radio Phoenix, ZAMBIA (200 USD)

Here are the winners from West African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of The Gambia, H. E. FATOUMATTA BAHBARROW and The First Lady of Liberia, H.E. CLAR MARIE WEAH:

WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES

ONLINE CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Q TV, GAMBIA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Liberia News Agency, LIBERIA (300 USD)

PRINT CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Concord Times, SIERRA LEONE (500 USD)

Here are the winnersfrom East African Countries:

EAST AFRICAN COUNTRIES

ONLINE CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• Standard Media Group, KENYA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• CNBC Africa, RWANDA (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• Scientific African, KENYA (200 USD)

PRINT CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• Daily Monitor, UGANDA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• Jamvi La Habari, TANZANIA (300 USD)
• The New Times, RWANDA (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• People Daily, KENYA (200 USD)

MULTIMEDIA CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• Citizen TV, KENYA (500 USD)
• Citizen TV, KENYA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• NBS TV, UGANDA (300 USD)

RADIO CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• Highlands FM Radio, TANZANIA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• Radio Bilal, UGANDA (300 USD)

Here are the winners from French-speaking African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of Central African Republic (CAR), H.E. BRIGITTE TOUADERA; The First Lady of Burundi, H.E. ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE; The First Lady of Niger, H.E. AÏSSATA ISSOUFOU MAHAMADOU:

FRENCH SPEAKING AFRICAN COUNTRIES

ONLINE CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Blog Lanoca, C.A.R., (500 USD)
• - La Presse de, TUNISIA (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Global News, BENIN (300 USD)
• Pan African Vision, CAMEROON (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• - L'Express de Madagascar, MADAGASCAR (200 USD)
• - Le Journal.Africa, BURUNDI (200 USD)

PRINT CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Niger Times, NIGER (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Niger Le Républicain, NIGER (300 USD)

RADIO CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Saraounia FM, NIGER (500 USD)
• - Radio Voix Du Paysan, BURKINA FASO (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Cameroon Radio Television, CAMEROON (300 USD)

Here are the winners from Portuguese-speaking African Countries in partnership with The First Lady of Angola, H.E. ANA DIAS LOURENÇO and The First Lady of Mozambique, H.E. ISAURA FERRÃO NYUSI:

PORTUGUESE SPEAKING AFRICAN COUNTRIES

ONLINE CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Televisão de Moçambique, MOZAMBIQUE (500 USD)

PRINT CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Valor Econômico, ANGOLA (500 USD)
• - Sociedade do Notícias, MOZAMBIQUE (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• - Jornal Dossiers & Factos, MOZAMBIQUE (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• Jornal domingo-Sociedade do Notícias, MOZAMBIQUE (200 USD)

MULTIMEDIA CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - TV Surdo, MOZAMBIQUE (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• Televisão de Moçambique, MOZAMBIQUE (300 USD)

RADIO CATEGORY WINNERS:

FIRST Position:

• - Radio Mozambique, MOZAMBIQUE (500 USD)

SECOND Position:

• Picaires - Radio Mozambique, MOZAMBIQUE (300 USD)

THIRD Position:

• Radio Mozambique, MOZAMBIQUE (200 USD)

The quality of work was impressive; therefore, the Merck Foundation Media Awards Committee reviewed the entries from four categories; Online, Print, Radio and Multimedia; under the following groups: 1) East African Countries, 2) West African Countries, 3) Southern African Countries, 4) French Speaking African Countries and 5) Portuguese speaking African countries.

The Merck Foundation Media Awards Committee has further introduced a second and a third position and selected more than one winner, on some occasions, for each of the Four Categories from all the regions.

“The valuable contribution from the winners in sensitizing their respective communities about COVID 19 has encouraged us to additionally reward them all to become Merck Foundation Alumni and provide them with one-year access to online educational training program called “MasterClass”. The MasterClass is an immersive online experience and self-paced learning course in English that can be accessed anywhere with the Internet. This is to motivate passionate journalists to continue writing and advocating for social, economic and health issues across their countries”, added Dr. Rasha Kelej.