Times Group, Zodiak shine in Sadc Awards
Times Group photojournalist Bonnex Julius alongside Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) journalist Winstone Mwale hoisted the Malawi flag high when they scooped awards in this year’s Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Awards, on Monday.
The awards were conferred on Monday morning by the Sadc chairperson Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe during the opening of the Heads of State and Government Sadc Summit in Botswana capital, Gaborone.
Julius won the award in the photography category with an entry depicting the new railway line connecting Malawi and Mozambique that will economically benefit the two countries. Mwale, on the other hand, got an award in the radio category with his entry on cultural unity that the annual Kulamba Chewa ceremony brings on the people of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique.
The two were selected during a judging session that was held at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe in June 2015.
Julius said he was happy to have won such an award.
“The award came as a surprise to me. I am speechless and this award is going to go a long way in motivating me to work extra hard,” he said, adding that as winners, they pocketed US$2,000 each over (over K1 million) prize money and a certificate signed by Mugabe.
Julius said apart from him and Mwale, the other winners are South African journalists Sam Msibi and Dennis Tshetihane, who he said jointly did a story of the Mine Provident Fund in the television category.
Puso Kedidimetse from Botswana won in the print category.
Times Group Editor-in-Chief George Kasakula yesterday congratulated Julius on winning the award.
“First of all on behalf of the Managing Director Leonnard Chikadya, the executive management and the entire staff of Times Group, which is the biggest media house in the country, we would like to congratulate Bonnex Julius for the award. He has made us proud,” said Kasakula.
He said as the biggest media house, Julius’ triumph gives them time to celebrate but also at the same time they are taking it as a challenge to continue offering the best to the public.
“When there is success, it’s always time to celebrate and we say well done to Bonnex for making us proud. This is an international competition which involved 15 countries of Sadc and for Bonnex to present quality work that beat everybody in the photography, is just fantastic.
“On the other hand, this is a challenge we will gladly embrace as the biggest media house in the land to maintain the highest standards we are achieving. We will endeavour to achieve quality on all our platforms of Times Television, Matindi FM and Times Online as well as all our publications namely Malawi News, The Daily Times and The Sunday Times. In short we are on a relentless march towards achieving perfection and this award exemplifies it all,” said Kasakula.
Director of Information and Sadc National Media Coordinator Bright Molande has since hailed Julius and Mwale for their success.
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