About The Event
The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) is a statutory and self-regulatory body established through the Media Council Act 2013 to regulate and enhance development of journalism profession and protect media freedom in Kenya. The Council executes its mandate through setting standards for journalism, mediation in cases of breaches to the Code of Conduct for the practice of Journalism in Kenya and ensuring high standards of journalism practice.
The Council observes international days that recognize the journalism profession and journalists while protecting their freedoms. The World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) is commemorated annually on 3rd May globally.
In Kenya the culmination of the commemoration is the Annual Journalism Excellence Awards (AJEA). This is MCK’s flagship gala dinner in recognition of outstanding and exemplary journalistic work. At the event the Council seeks to reward creativity and innovation in gathering and presentation of editorial media content.
Objectives of the Awards
The awards are a continuous annual recognition and celebration of journalistic excellence and achievement in Kenya. The key objectives of the awards are:
1. Recognize and celebrate journalists who have demonstrated high standards of reportage and ethics in their work.
2. To identify gaps in journalism and areas of capacity enhancement for journalists and media practitioners to maintain standards of excellence in the profession.
3. To motivate young journalists to seek to excel in their work and grow in the profession.
4. Challenge and inspire journalists to play their role in upholding democracy, integrity and accountability in society.
5. To promote media coverage of the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
Justification for the Media Awards
The Media Council of Kenya mandate includes ensuring adherence to standards of journalism practice as enshrined in the code of conduct for the practice of journalism.
The Annual Journalism Excellence Awards (AJEA) is a celebration of Journalists who excel and are rewarded for demonstrating good journalism, doing their work as watchdogs in exposing malpractices in public service delivery, and show creativity and innovation in media content generation. The awards also present an opportunity to the Council to identify areas that require enhancement in capacity building, development of training content, and emerging issues in journalism.
Awards Eligibility
The awards are open to all MCK accredited journalists to submit stories in different categories online. The stories must have been published or broadcast over the last one calendar year. Judges look for journalism that puts issues into context and in perspective, thereby making sense of issues of public interest.