'Nation' writer Jacqueline Kubania wins David Astor journalism award

A Daily Nation journalist has been selected for a prestigious journalism award that will include placement in media houses in the UK and South Africa.

Jacqueline Kubania, 25, a news reporter and features writer, is one of the three outstanding young journalists from Kenya and Uganda selected for the 2015 David Astor Journalism Awards programme.

The other two are Solomon Arinaitwe, 25, a political reporter at the Daily Monitor in Kampala, and Gloria Nakajubi, 27, a features writer with The New Vision in Kampala.

The three will undertake work-experience attachments in the UK and South Africa, each lasting six weeks, that will offer them exposure to different news reporting environments and expand their professional capabilities.

As part of the award, each received a nominal cash award of Sh45,500 from the Joffe Charitable Trust.

The David Astor Journalism Awards Trust Executive Director Jim Meyer said they were glad to invest in and support the career development of the scribes.

“With their already considerable abilities and determination, these outstanding, high potential young journalists are clearly marked out for future leading roles in African journalism,” he said.

DEVELOP CAREER

Ms Kubania was thrilled by her selection and said the award will give her a chance to develop her career.

“I am looking forward to my internship in London and South Africa and the skills I will gain from my time there.”

The candidate-selection process began in May 2014, when media houses, local journalists’ associations, journalism trainers, media and civil society organisations and the David Astor Network members were invited to nominate one candidate each.

After reviewing written applications from the nominees and examples of their work, 11 shortlisted candidates in Kenya and 14 in Uganda were interviewed in September and October.

Three judges independently selected them for their evident talent, integrity and long-term commitment to African journalism, and displaying the requisite qualities to excel in the profession, after a rigorous six-month review and assessment of 40 locally nominated candidates.

The three journalists now join 16 previous award winners from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as career-long members of an expanding professional network representing the next generation of leading journalists in the East African region.

They will also join the other members of the David Astor Award Winners’ Network for the group’s annual three-day meeting in Uganda at the end of March.

The runners-up were Christine Mungai from the Mail & Guardian Africa and Frankline Sunday from The Standard in Kenya; and Emmanuel Ainebyoona and Frederic Musisi from the Daily Monitor in Uganda. They each received Sh22,750.

The David Astor Journalism Awards Trust was founded in 2006 to promote, strengthen and support independent journalism in Africa. It honours the late distinguished editor of The Observer newspaper in London, who served from 1948 to 1975 and was a lifelong champion of African development, human rights and other social justice causes.