After two years of virtual events, Continental Reinsurance Plc has announced the winners of the 7th pan-African (re)insurance journalism awards at an in-person event in Lagos, Nigeria.
One of the many firsts of the evening was the inclusion of Arabic-language media in the awards which helped to attract entries from a record-breaking 22 African countries.
The category winners are: Best Entry, Arabic Category Atif Fahim Mahrous from Egypt and Maher Fadl Hanna also Egypt; Best Entry, French Cateogory is Ouedraogo Patinema Oumar from Burkina Faso; Best Entry, Broadcast Category, (English) is Destiny Abanyem Onyemihia from Nigeria; Best Entry, Print Category (English)is Tunde Ajaja from Nigeria; Best Entry, Online Category (English) is Felix Dela Klutse from Ghana; and Femi Future Talent Awardis Fraterne Ndacyayisenga from Rwanda.
Launched in 2015, the awards continued to attract a rising number of entries (84 up from 67) from an increasing number of African nations (22 up from 16), amongst them for the first time South Sudan and Egypt. After announcing the shortlist in June, and careful deliberation by an independent jury assessing relevance, style and impact, the winners were invited to Lagos, Nigeria, for a fully sponsored trip to receive their awards.
The winners will also receive an exclusive year-long mentorship to develop their insurance sector reporting skills further. This is in addition to cash prizes.
Reflecting on the range of countries that entered this year’s awards, head of the Jury, Michael Wilson, commented: “The awards celebrate individual talent, but we also need to remember that each of the winners is part of an editorial team with a shared goal. By opening the awards up to more journalists from more countries we are turning the awards into a platform for collaboration and cooperation across Africa.”
Speaking on the occasion of honouring its past Group Managing Director by introducing the ‘Dr Femi Future Talent Award’, Continental Re’s managing director/CEO, Lawrence Nazare, highlighted the company’s pan-African commitment to the awards: “Over the last seven years, the awards have highlighted the fact that the world is not risk free and that insurance, in as much as it can, is a step towards managing that uncertainty we are all currently experiencing. We believe that by honouring the media industry’s future talent we can create a distinctly African narrative for the sector, and that is why the awards will always be the pan-African awards.”
The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with a dedicated farewell dinner for four distinguished Directors of the Company, including the chairman, Ajibola Ogunshola, who recently retired from the Board of Directors of the Company.
