Judges Quotes

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AISI/IICD Media Awards 2004
"Local Content"

Joint Winners: 

Bavesh Baijnath, Digital Dimension (Mauritius)
http://www.mauritiusportal.com

The portal has a variety of information, and provides feed back opportunity to the surfers. This portal has a lot of information. It has everything from world news to currency conversion information against a non-local currency. The website seems to have focused more on global issues. 
 

Shina Badaru
Technology Times (Nigeria)
http://www.techtimesnews.net

This is a new Nigerian website with much promise. The editor(s) obviously takes interaction seriously. Every article has a prominent sidebar where readers can post their comments. The site also encourages readers to submit their own ICT related articles. As a regular writer the site has journalist Shina Badaru, a well-known ICT commentator who has a large group of loyal readers. This bodes well for the future of the site. Badaru combines expert knowledge with an incisive writing style and a great sense of humour. The layout is clean and simple, with easy-to-read text. The content is professional. 
This portal uses the web technology to exchange ICT related knowledge among community members and update the community members on developments in the Nigerian ICT industry. The portal has a discussion space where local users can discuss about ICT related issues relevant to their community such as the effect of Microsoft’s presence in Nigeria, its piracy campaign and its contribution to the country. This feature encourages the generation or sharing of local knowledge. It uses the official language of Nigeria as a medium of communication. 
 

Runner-Up

EthioMarket e-Web Technology (Ethiopia)
http://www.ethiomarket.com

This is a very focused and impressive website. It is the only of its kind in Ethiopia and is a comprehensive guide to market-related information in the country. The site has a pleasing layout and is most professionally implemented with clear navigation. It uses an ICT application (website) to express expert and detailed knowledge of the Ethiopian market. This website uses the web technology to provide information about Ethiopian market to local users as well as foreign investors. It has a lot of content focusing mainly on the import/export sector. It has a variety of important information that is helpful to local users, such as contact information, relevant links and local bids. The website has a good design and organization. 

 


AISI/GTZ Media Awards 2004
- PRINT
"Promoting the Information Society in Africa"

Winner: 

Eteka Coutchika Cyrille (Benin)
"La revolution technologique de l'espoi"

This article is comprehensive and technically very informative. In addition, the writer balances a difficult technical analysis of radio and television diffusion with economic and political issues, arguing in favour of the open society. This is a well-researched piece with attention to detail and factual analysis of questions that should impact not only Africa but also the Planet, and the developing world in particular.
The writer’s knowledge is indisputable, and his writing is scholarly and informed. He is a powerful voice for positive ICT developments in his country and Africa as a whole. The article is not written for the man in the street, but for the informed reader interested in telecommunications developments on the continent. Some considerations he is making are critical to make sure Africa reaps most benefits from ICTs.

Runner-Up

Aloyce Menda (Tanzania) 
“Controversies over ICT benefits to Africa”

The article breaks ground, providing information that is not widely known. This report does just this with its focus on the consequences technology has on the developing world. The story is well articulated, easy to understand and promotes an understanding of another aspect of technology – the environmental and human costs.
The article focuses on the role precious Coltan ore plays in conflict in DRC. This is the sort of story that is not often found in western media. Few citizens in the west are aware that much of the Coltan illegally stolen from Congo is in their laptops, cell phones and electronic devices. This is an important article, bringing to the fore an aspect of ICTs that is dealt with all too seldom in the media.


AISI/GTZ Media Awards 2004
- RADIO
"Promoting the Information Society in Africa"

Winner: 

Filifing Diakite (Mali)
“Programme on Telemedicine - Radio Guintan 94.7 FM”

The programme manages to make this rather technical and scientific topic easily understandable to the non-expert listener. This is good journalism. Various voices are heard, giving a spectrum of opinion and ensuring one is not subjected to a monotone. This is good radio. The programme spreads useful information to citizens, and helps to give a more nuanced understanding of the potential of ICTs in assisting social development.

 


AISI/GTZ Media Awards 2004
- TV
"Promoting the Information Society in Africa"

Winner: 

Adri Joseph Gnassengbe (Togo)
“Efforts de vulgarisation des TIC au Togo”

The documentary includes on-site reporting, opening with a teacher demonstrating in an outdoor classroom the potential of technology. We learn about the benefits and the problems of technology in this rural part of Togo – including problematic electricity and illiteracy. Broader community voices would make this a significantly stronger report.
The documentary is people focused. We see students at a Catholic school crowded around some computers, which, surprisingly, are on tables outdoors. The children are clearly very interested, and the visuals make it quite clear that this is a school with hardly any resources at all. The viewer is left in no doubt about the importance contribution that Internet connected computers will make to their education. The discussion deals partly with problems of illiteracy in rural areas and the consequent problems related to providing ICT access, and also looks at cybercafe usage and possibilities for people to get computer skills training. 

 

Runner-Up

Salif Sanogo (Mali)
CyberNTIC "Special Geneve 2003"

This program is extensively reported, professionally produced and well edited. The story focuses on the potential technology has to help the people of Mali and all of Africa. And, importantly, the documentary highlights the ideas of Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade relating to the need for digital solidarity. Sanogo is not only professional, but he also demonstrates insight of the issue. He has been covering ICTs issues for many years.

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AISI/IDRC Media Awards 2004
"Reporting on ICT Research and Innovation"

Winner: 

Arthur Okwemba (Kenya)
‘’African women virtually excluded’’

It is well known that many ICT projects in Africa that focus on women fail to meet the expectations of their initiators. This article points to one of the causes - implementers have failed to take cognizance of key cultural factors such as power relations between men and women.
The paper is very informative, entertaining for some and provide in-depth Africa trends as well as challenges. It is a model of what should be done. The paper summarises some important research into Internet usage by men and women in six African countries. Despite presenting a lot of relative statistics, the author manages to keep the reader interested and attentive. Media need to bring to the forefront information that can assist in planning more realistic ICT projects, and this article does just this. 
It is well documented; it addresses the issue of women access to ICT in small communities in a comprehensive manner. 

 

Runner-Up

Wanjohi Kabukuru (Kenya) 
"ICTs: key to Africa’s rapid rural progress”

The article provides good facts about some of the activities of the Arid Lands Information Network Eastern Africa ALIN-EA. The NGO has more than 1000 community development worker members in Eastern Africa. It has established more than 30 community information centres in the region. It is collaborating with NGOs in an Open Knowledge project to disseminate health information. 

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AISI/IDRC Media Awards 2004
"Reporting on ICT Policy"

Winner: 

John Patrick Mireny (Tanzania)
”Why harmonizing ICT policies could catalyse Africa”

This is a piece that brings out memories of extreme frustration lived by anyone who has gone through this kind of situation before. It demonstrates the daily limitations to which professionals in the developing world are exposed. Government policies can actually bar individuals from developing to their full potential. 
From a sad experience, after an event close to what we are doing, he exposed calmly but very powerfully the need to harmonize policy in the regions. His paper renders a great deal of tribute to the various researches led in the sector with the help of various organizations. He demonstrates that African researchers bring useful contribution to the understanding and ultimately policy making in ICTs in Africa. 
The story presents a clear deficiency in technology potential throughout all of Africa. The reporter takes a complex topic and makes it relatively understandable. 
Mireny uses the clever device of introducing a complex topic – the harmonisation of regional ICT policies – with the simple easy-to-understand story of an award-winning journalist who has his computer prize impounded by customs officials. He then proceeds to deal quite thoroughly with the problematic of policy harmonisation. 
This story focuses on a vital aspect of ICT policy that impacts on regional integration: the fiscal leverage system and how it hampers the development of ICTs in Africa. It is informative and keeps in mind the broader picture of integration.
 

Runner-Up

Emmanuel Onyango (Tanzania)
"Towards a community-driven information”

The story is clearly written and explains what technology has been and should be used for in improving quality of living. This is a well-back grounded piece that shows sensitivity to issues of accountability, good governance, the roles of the State and civil society in the exchange and dissemination of information. The article implies that low cost and pro-IT government policies have led the country towards IT-oriented education policies. 
The article is well written, nicely mixes analysis and the reporter’s own knowledge, and presents an extremely easy explanation of what ICT is. It clearly explains the potential of technology for businesses in a developing environment. It takes a local approach while also mentioning the potential throughout sub-Saharan Africa. 
 

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OSIWA
AISI/OSIWA Media Awards 2004
"Reporting ICTs and Rural Communities"

Winner: 

Baba Thiam (Senegal) 
"NTICs en milieu rural – Ngoundiane veut souder la fracture numérique entre les villes et les Campagnes’’

A technology story that isn’t all boosterism and industry jargon! The story presents a clear problem with balance and thorough reporting. The reporter uses a single community, Ngoundiane, to demonstrate national problems – and potential. 
The author places his erudite discussion in a historical perspective, reminding us of the north/south debates around the New World Information Order, the more recent concepts of the digital divide and the 'global village', and the need for technological transfer. His article considers the 'timid' penetration of ICTs into rural areas, focusing on a somewhat failed project in rural Ngoundiane in Senegal. He reminds us of the problems of inadequate telecom infrastructure, of rural illiteracy, and of the important need to conceive rural ICT projects on a realistic basis.
 

Runner-Up

Adetokunbo Abiola (Nigeria)
" Taking Internet to the Grassroots’’

This well written story clearly explains what benefits rural communities could get from the use of the Internet in their daily lives. It deals with some of the clichés (reminding the reader that rural people are not necessarily illiterate) and also presents community-based projects to give access to these communities to the Internet.

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OSIWA
AISI/OSIWA Media Awards 2004
"Best Female Reporter on ICT Issues"

Winner: 

Rosemary Okello (Kenya)
“Yes to ICTs, but fit them to our practical needs"

This opinion/analysis piece points to the development of a coherent ICT policy that takes into account cultural precepts as central to any country that is serious about education, and by extension democratisation. 
The story takes a pertinent topic that blends social, education and technology issues. The reporter raises good issues and gives the story continent-wide pertinence. The article is professionally crafted, articulate and well-informed. The author pulls together important concepts and convincingly presents her argument. It links ICTs with socio-economic development. There is analytical depth based on knowledge of ICTs. The story articulates the needs of women in emerging info society. The article is educative, and promotes understanding, and it is clear, well-articulated and convincing.

Runner-Up

Ellen Muleya Chikale (Zambia)
"Zambia Keen to be part of global IT”

The author provides a clear, comprehensive of Zambia’s efforts to keep up with the global information society. It is quite narrative, but very comprehensive. Could do with more factual information. 
Ellen Chikale's journalism has a refreshing enthusiasm that keeps the reader attentive to the end. Zambians are well served by her articles in the Daily Mail, which explicate aspects of ICTs in that country

 
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