2010 Finalists and Winners

Sam Rogers, South Africa

Winner: CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2010 Award and winner of the Television Features Award

Bio: Sam's journalism career spans almost two decades during which time she has received several awards including CNN African Journalist of the Year, 2001. She has worked as a Photojournalist at Caxton newspapers, as a Reporter with Radio 702 and a Senior Sub-Editor at City Press. She took up the position of Producer at ARD in 1994 and the following year moved to ITN's Hong Kong Bureau as a Producer. Sam has been Executive Producer of Third Degree, e-tv's current affairs show since 1999 and heads up the channel's documentary unit.

Halima Abdallah Kisule, Uganda

Winner: Environment Award

Bio: After working as a fixer for ABC, Channel 4, and as a stringer for Deutsche Welle Radio, Halima became a Reporter for Daily Monitor before moving to The Weekly Observer. She has worked as a Media Advisor for the DPP, working for government departments including agriculture, education and women's issues. Halima has contributed to the BBC Swahili Service and online news agency, The Women International Perspective. She is currently Special Correspondent with The East African newspaper in Kampala.

Kofi Akpabli, Ghana

Winner: Arts and Culture Award

Bio: Kofi has been working as a freelance journalist since 2001 specialising in the subjects of tourism, culture and environment. During this time he has contributed to The Mirror, Public Agenda, Daily Graphic, Graphic Showbiz, Weekly Spectator and the Ghanaian Times. His investigations and reports have also been broadcast on Radio Ghana and the News Commentary section of GBC's News Bulletin.

Njaka Andriamahery, Madagascar

Runner-Up: Francophone TV/Radio Award

Bio: Award-winning journalist, Njaka, has been working in television since joining OTV in 1998. He moved to Radio Television Amalamanga in 1999, staying until 2006 when he left to join TV Plus, Madagascar. In 2003 and 2004 he won first prize for the Best TV report by the Association of Malagasy Journalists (US, UK and German embassies) and in 2009 was awarded Best TV Report on Children by UNICEF.

Pelu Awofeso, Nigeria

Winner: Tourism Award

Bio: Pelu's career as a journalist began in 2001 when he worked as a freelance consultant on the Sunday Standard. In 2002 he moved to Africa Today where he took up the position of Arts and Travel Correspondent before becoming the editor of Network Africa in 2006. After spending two years in this post, Pelu became a freelance contributor to Next on Sunday. He is also the author of two books and a screenwriter for Network Africa's Bamidele Street.

Najlae Benmbarek, Morocco

Winner: Francophone TV/Radio Award

Bio: Najlae currently works as a reporter and host of 2M TV's monthly magazine show producing long form pieces covering social, political and cultural issues. Having completed her Masters in Journalism at UC Berkeley in California, Najlae went on to freelance for PBS Frontline/WORLD producing documentaries. From there she moved to News21 as a Reporter where she edited a short documentary about US military presence in East Africa for CNN's Anderson Cooper 360o.

Teresa Chirwa, Malawi

Winner: MSD Health & Medical Award

Bio: Since graduating with a BA in Journalism from Malawi Polytechnic in 2006, Teresa has won two awards: 2007 Human Rights Reporter of the Year (electronic) MISA Malawi and 2008 Investigative Reporter, Casals and Associates. She currently works as a Senior Reporter, Presenter and Newsreader at Zodiak Broadcasting where she gathers and writes stories on Human Rights and Business Issues, reads the news, presents and produces programmes and helps to mentor junior reporters.

Dispatch Online Team

Winner: Digital Journalism Award

Bio: A nine-strong team from Daily Dispatch who collaborate on stories produced specifically for online, comprising Tegan Bedser, Senior Producer and Web Developer; Shadley Haupt, Web Manager; Jan Hennop News Editor; Thanduxolo Jika, Assistant News Editor; Theodore Jeptha, Staff Photographer; Mlondolozi Mbolo, Staff Photographer; Gcina Ntsaluba, Political and Investigative Reporter; Sino 'Scorsese' Majangaza, Mobile journalist and Rudi Louw Design guru.

Mustafa Haji Abdinur, Somalia

Winner: Free Press Africa Award

Bio: Mustafa is the recipient of this year's Free Press Africa Award. He started out his media career with the first Somali TV and Radio network STN in 2002 moving to Radio Shabelle in 2004 as a Producer and News Editor. He went on to co-found Radio Simba in 2007 and is also a correspondent for various Western media outlets.

Thanduxolo Jika, South Africa

Runner-up: Print General News Award

Bio: Whilst studying for his BA in Journalism and Politics at Rhodes University, Thanduxolo was the Presenter and Technical Manager with his campus radio station RMR. After gaining work experience with SAFM, Reuters and SABC he joined AVUSA tabloid newspaper, Talk of the Town as a Junior Reporter. He is currently the assistant news editor of Daily Dispatch, where he's worked for the last three and a half years.

Zipporah Karani, Kenya

Runner-up: HIV/AIDS Reporting Award

Bio: A volunteer coordinator with Western HIV/AIDS Refrain Team, Zipporah was involved in all communications activities. She began working for Metro Television, an affiliate branch of Kenya Broadcasting Company, as an entertainment reporter and interviewer. From here she progressed to a role as News Reporter for Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and has since moved to Kenya Television Network where her news reports are aired during prime time TV and Radio bulletins.

Charles Kariuki, Kenya

Winner: Television News Award

Bio: Charles's broadcast media experience has seen him involved with the shooting of documentaries, media stories and features in Kenya and South Africa for a variety of local television stations. He works frequently for NTV, in his role as a Communications Assistant at World Vision, Kenya where he is in charge of video production. His responsibilities include news gathering, video and editing and script writing for media stories and features as well as documentaries.

Alexandre Lebel Ilboudo, Ivory Coast

Winner: Francophone Print Award

Bio: Alexandre began his career as an online journalist with the political website Nouvelle formule pour le Populaire. In 2001 he moved to Le Jour and from there joined Le Front in 2003 and continued to write for them until 2007. He is also Ivory Coast correspondent for the Magasine Panafricain de la Pharmacie et du Medicament and for the Site d'actualite Burkinabe, Lefaso.net. Since 2008 he has been an investigative Reporter for the daily newspaper Le Patriote and Editor-in-Chief at Ouaga.info.

Lucas Ledwaba, South Africa

Winner: HIV/AIDS Reporting Award

Bio: Lucas started out with the Sunday Times in 1996 progressing to Bureau Chief, Northern Province (Limpopo). His career has taken him to Sunday World as a Features Writer and Columnist, Storm News Agency and City Press as freelance writer and Director as well as Sunday Sun, ITWeb Daily website,ThisDay newspaper, DRUM magazine and City Press newspaper. He is currently Managing Director of Mukurukuru Media and continues to freelance for DRUM.

Tsitsi Matope, Lesotho

Runner-up: Arts and Culture Award

Bio: Tsitsi has been working as a journalist for over ten years. She started out writing for the Zimbabwe Herald before fleeing the country in 2008 to work in Lesotho. Tsitsi's writing covers a vast range of subjects encompassing poverty, women and children's issues, health, agriculture, environment and investigative journalism. She is currently working for Public Eye as a Copy Editor and prior to this she was Copy Editor for Informative Newspaper in Lesotho.

Emmanuel Mayah, Nigeria

Winner: Print General News Award

Bio: Emmanuel is Assistant Editor and Head of Investigations at The Sun newspaper, Lagos. Since 2005 his journalistic work has earned him fifteen awards including: CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Environment award 2008, Wole Soyinka Award 1st prize for Investigative Journalism in 2005, 2007 and 2009 as well as a whole host of Reporter and Writer of the year awards for subjects ranging from Health to Travel and Tourism.

Kassim Mohamed, Kenya

Winner: Radio General News Award

Bio: Kassim's educational background has seen him attend the Institute of Commercial Management in London; the East African School of Media Studies; the Kenyan Institute of Management as well as Radio Netherlands Training Centre. In March 2006 he started working for Citizen TV as a Reporter and since then has moved to Star FM where he continues to work as Reporter gathering and presenting news stories.

Oarabile Mosikare, Botswana

Runner-up: Sport Award

Bio: After completing a national diploma in Journalism at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2003 Oarabile worked for The Voice newspaper as a Court and Crime Reporter. He joined Mmegi and Monitor Newspapers in 2005, continuing as General Duty Reporter across all sections of the papers until moving to The Botswana Gazette in 2009. Oarabile is now an African correspondent for South Africa's Mail and Guardian.

Francis Mugo Mwangi, Nairobi

Winner: Economics and Business Award

Bio: Freelance camera operator, Francis, has worked with leading production companies in Kenya including Nation TV, KTN and KBC on a variety of projects encompassing feature films, documentaries and docu-dramas. His work has seen him script, direct and produce for clients such as Action Africa Help-International in Sudan, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Rwanda-Biogas Technology, ITDG Practical Action, Handicap International, East African Breweries, Action Conference International, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Integrated Rural Development Initiative in Uganda and Hot Sun Films in California.

Boniface Mwangi, Kenya

Winner: Mohamed Amin Photographic Award

Bio: Boniface Mwangi is an award-winning freelance Photojournalist and graduate of The East African School of Journalism. He worked as a Correspondent Photojournalist at The Standard newspaper from 2005 - 2008. Boniface's images have been used around the globe in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Sunday Times, International Herald Tribune and BBC Focus on Africa Magazine. He won the Mohamed Amin Photographic Award category in the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2008 and was Highly Commended in 2009.

Rose Ramsay, South Africa

Runner-up: Television News Award

Bio: Rose began her journalistic career freelancing for The Star and Mail & Guardian Innovation supplement whilst studying for her BA in Journalism and Media Studies. In 2004 she moved to eNews where she is currently Group Executive Producer. During her time with the South African TV Channel she has taken on a number of roles: International Desk Writer; Weather Producer and Weather Anchor; News Reporter, Executive Producer and Co-Producer on News Day; Bulletin Producer for Prime Time and Duty Editor.

Sérgio Sitoe, Mozambique

Runner-up: Portuguese General News Award

Bio: Sérgio joined Rede de Comunicação Miramar company in 1996 as a Technical Radio Operator. In 2002 he moved to the role of Presenter hosting the afternoon and the evening news programme. In 2005 he joined Mazungula News Bulletin programme as a Reporter and now he is the morning and evening News Anchor at TV Miramar. He supervises the radio broadcast and also coordinates the news.

Leon Ssenyange, Uganda

Winner: Sport Award

Bio: Leon's background in sports reporting has seen him generate stories for broadcast and print media focusing on football, motor sports, cricket, boxing and rugby. As a writer he worked on The Sunrise and The Daily Monitor before moving to UgaSport as the Editor. He also works as a Broadcast Journalist at NTV where he is the weekday Sports News Anchor and also hosts the weekly Sports Bar programme on Saturdays. His responsibilities include editing scripts and video, covering sports events and generating sports news stories.

Lamia Tagzout, Algeria

Runner-up: Francophone Print Award

Bio: After graduating with a Communications degree, Lamia gained broadcast experience with several traineeships including Beur TV's "C'est le Souk", Agence Presse Service and Centre de Perfectionnement des Journalistes (CFPJ). Her first job as a journalist was at Maracana sports newspaper where she carried out investigative work and wrote reports and interviews. In 2009 she joined Le Jeune Indépendant newspaper, and now works for El Watan weekend newspaper.

Sebastião Vemba, Angola

Winner: Portuguese General News Award

Bio: Sebastião Vemba graduated with a degree in Law from the Agostinho Neto University in Angola and also undertook an intensive course in journalism at CENJOR. He started his career in journalism in 2006 as a trainee with one of Angola's weekly newspapers, Semanário Folha 8. Since 2007, he has been working as a Reporter for Novo Jornal whilst continuing to teach Portuguese.

Kaara Wainaina, Kenya

Winner: Economics and Business Award

Bio: Kaara gained broadcast media experience as News Director of Shine FM, the radio station at Daystar University. After graduating, he joined NTV’s business and current affairs show, Money Matters, as Assistant Producer and was responsible for overseeing production, editing and final packaging. From May 2007 he has worked as a Business Reporter at NTV contributing daily to the business news segment as well as writing and packaging economic and financial features.

Roseline Wangui, Kenya

Bio: Roseline joined Nation Media Group as a Features Reporter in 2000 and continues to gather news; research news stories and features; write news and feature scripts and edit and voice feature scripts. Her many awards include: Winner (Health) Kenya Children Rights Media; Highly Commended CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2009 (HIV/AIDS) and Winner in 2005 (Arts &Culture); UNESCO Red Ribbon Award, Best TV Journalist 2006 (HIV/AIDS); Commonwealth Broadcasting Awards (Highly Commended) 2005.

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