2011 Awards

The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) has announced the winners of its Annual Awards. Broadcasters globally are facing the challenges of digitisation, but engaging and high quality programme content is acknowledged as the key driver for digital transition. Excellence in media production across the Commonwealth is celebrated in the winning entries, which come from South Africa, Australia, UK, Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya.

The judges felt that two entries for the CBA-IBC Award for Innovative Engineering deserved recognition, so they awarded SABC and Televisao Independente de Mocambique as joint winners.

The CBA judging panels reported that the quality of content produced by entrants was high, although the World Bank Award for a programme covering Development Success is not to be awarded as no entrants sufficiently fulfilled the application criteria.

To ensure that award recipients receive maximum recognition in their home territories, awards this year will be presented at CBA events regionally.

The CBA is committed to supporting Public Service Media content and would like to thank all CBA Award sponsors for making this celebration of excellence possible. Thanks also to the many judges who took time out of their busy schedules to select these winners.

Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Programme

Winner

Assignment – Guinea on the Brink
Mark Doyle, Reporter; Ed Butler, Producer; Bridget Harney, Editor
BBC World Service

The judges said: “This is a very powerful programme, radio documentary at its best. Guinea on the Brink makes an important contribution to the fight for human rights because it brings this issue to the attention of the millions around the world who listen to the BBC World Service.”

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CBA-IBC Award for Innovative Engineering

  

Winners

MCR PROJECT
Abel Boane, Technical Director
Televisao Independente de Mocambique

EPG Innovation Project
Potlaki Maine, General Manager of IT
SABC

The judges said: “Both these entries showed initiative and judges felt that they were equally important to their respective stations, despite the very different sizes and strengths of the two organisations. The SABC project made excellent use of well documented tools and TIM Engineers made pragmatic use of available resources. Both projects demonstrated end user benefits, either from enhanced services or improved quality and reliability.”

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One World Media Award for the Best Programme produced in a Developing Country

Winner

Maternal Mortality
Stanley Ongwae, Producer/Reporter; Arnold Ageta, Editor
Radio Kisima FM

The judges said: “This was a highly creative, innovative programme, with excellent use of available resources. Maternal Mortality is engaging, informative listening; this is 3D radio!”

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Thomson Foundation Journalist of the Year Award

Winner

Maternal Mortality
Samuel Agyemang, Reporter/Anchor
Metro TV

The judges said: “We were hugely impressed by Samuel’s determination to get to the heart of the story – in difficult and challenging circumstances. His reporting had evident impact, brought clear results, and showed courage and a social conscience. We want to commend him on his investigative skill and encourage him to persevere in setting the highest standards of journalism.”

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UNESCO Award for Science Reporting & Programming

Honeybee Blues
Eniko Toth, Production Coordinator
SBS

The judges said: “Honeybee Blues is the epitome of all that is good about Public Service Broadcasting, it entertained, informed and educated. The Bee’s story was a story in and of itself and also was used as a vehicle to explore wider environmental issues.”

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