About The Event
The Annual Journalism Excellence Awards (AJEA) is a signature event of the Media Council of Kenya that recognises and celebrates excellence and professionalism in the media industry in Kenya.
The awards are usually the peak of celebrations to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day marked globally on 3rd May.
Winners of these awards submit their stories on broadcast, print and digital platforms after which a panel of judges who then determine the winning stories.
The past gala events have been successful attracting entries from across the country in both print and broadcast categories. The event also provides an opportunity for partners to interact with media stakeholders and industry players.
The Council has held AJEA since 2012, with this year's event marking ten years of its existence.
Objectives of the Media Awards
The awards are a continuous annual recognition and celebration of journalistic excellence and achievement in Kenya. The awards culminate in a gala dinner organised to showcase stories and writers who have upheld professionalism in the media industry during the past year. The key objectives of the awards are:
- To identify, celebrate and maintain excellence in journalism and the media industry in general.
- Recognise journalists who have demonstrated high standards of reportage and ethics in their work.
- To identify areas of capacity, need for journalists and media practitioners to maintain standards of excellence in the profession.
- To motivate young journalists to seek to excel in their work and grow in the profession.
- Challenge journalists to achieve the highest standards of ethics in the profession and practice of journalism.
- Inspire journalists to play their role in upholding democracy, integrity and accountability in society.
Why the Media Awards
The Media Council of Kenya is the guardian for the code of ethics and practice of journalism in the country. The Council is also expected to ensure that journalism standards are upheld and gaps identified in the practice of journalism are mitigated through capacity building.
It is prudent for the media to provide Kenyans and media content consumers with content that is prepared professionally, that promotes, respects and adheres to the fundamental principles and global standards of journalism. Kenyans want a professionally run media that promotes, respects, and adheres to the fundamental principles and global standards of journalism. Consumers of news and information desire to have a professional media that advances public interest issues, respects individual rights and privacy and operates within the parameters of the journalism profession, both as a moral imperative and as a legal requirement.
Through the awards, the media has an opportunity to enhance its professional standards of practice and grow in its mandate as an opinion shaper and a platform for discourse.
Awards Eligibility
The awards are open to all journalists to submit stories in the different categories. The stories must have been published or broadcast over the last one calendar year. The stories submitted are subjected to a jury of at least seven judges who review the entries and award stories which demonstrate excellence, creativity, and journalistic merit in their presentation. Judges often look for innovative stories and investigative journalism that goes beyond the obvious, the ordinary, the expected, and the regular. They look for journalism that puts issues in context and in perspective, thereby making sense of issues of public interest.