An 11-member Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards Committee have been inaugurated to examine and evaluate 250 entries of contestants and nominations received from the public for 2011.
The 2011 GJA Competition Awards is the 16th since it became a regular feature of activities of the Association, which was founded on August 14, 1949.
Inaugurating the Committee, Mr Affail Monney, Vice- President of the Association said organising the event had always been difficult since it was always supported by friends, partners, government, corporate Ghana.
He allayed the fears of those, who argued that the media would be compelled to compromise their ethical instinct.
Mr Monney said GJA would welcome any contribution to promote the sense of shared responsibility and ensure development of the Ghanaian media.
The Committee members are Mr Edward Ameyibor, Former Supervising Chief Editor of the Ghana News Agency, Dr Doris Yaa Dartey, Communications Consultant, Ms Roberta Gardener, Former Head of Training, Ghana Television, Nana Kofi Coomson, Publisher of The Chronicle Newspaper and Mr Tim Quashigah, Lecturer and Head of Broadcast Journalism Department, Ghana Institute of Journalism.
The rest are Mr Ato Amoaning-Annan, Acting Dean of Journalism and Communication Department of African University College of Communications, Mr Enimil Ashong, Former Editor of Ghanaian Times and the Spectator, Mr Kwamina Aboagye, Head of Photography Department, NAFTI, Mr George Adjei, Former Editor in-Chief Ghana Television, Mr Emmanuel Amoako, Former Deputy Editor of Daily Graphic and Mr Joe Aggrey, Veteran Sports Journalist and Former President of SWAG.
Dr Dartey on behalf of the Committee expressed their appreciation to the GJA for the confidence reposed in them and gave assurance that they would work impartially and ensure they sieved the jewels from the lot.
“Three years ago, because none of the entries deserved the Journalist of the Year Award, no one was voted, and that testified that the committee is impartial and we hope this year a Journalist of the Year would emerge,” she added.