GNA’s Head of Environment Desk named among GJA Awards winners

Mr Albert Oppong-Ansah of the Ghana News Agency is among 22 journalists to be awarded at the 26th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards scheduled for November 12, 2022.
Mrs Yaa Oforiwaa Asare-Peasah, Chairperson of the GJA Awards Committee, announced the winners at a press conference in Accra Monday, November 7, 2022.

The awards, which will be on the theme: “Walking the path towards economic recovery: The role of the media”, will take place at the Kempinski Gold Coast City Hotel in Accra.

It will celebrate individuals and institutions that have distinguished themselves in the discharge of their duties in the year under review.

The seven-member Awards Committee, which was inaugurated on August 31, 2022, evaluated a total of 137 entries to settle on the winners for the various categories.

The categories for this year’s Awards were reduced from more than 50 to 37 as part of the review process.

Mrs Asare-Peasah said the Award winners “did their best to get what is deserving”.
She cited wrong categorisation, poor organisation of content, poor quality of presentation, disjointed sentences and incoherent flow of ideas as among the issues identified with some of the entries.

“Some of the submitted entries did not meet the criteria for winning the GJA Awards…there were also misunderstanding of the categories entered. For example, it was noticed that all but two of the entries on gender wrote about women only, especially the challenges they faced in society,” Mrs Asare-Peasah said.

The Committee recommended that an award could be shared in “highly competitive situations that pulls a tie”.

Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, President of GJA, congratulated all the award winners and commended the Committee for doing a “yeoman’s job”.

“The Theme of the Awards tells you how as Journalists or Association we are very committed towards the growth of this country,” he said.

Brief profile of Mr Albert oppong-Ansah

Mr Albert Oppong-Ansah is an editor at the Ghana News Agency and heads the Environment, Science, Energy and Technology and Innovation Desk.

His stories have not only given a voice to the most vulnerable in society but have also shaped major national policies and have been referenced in a number of studies, including the Circular Economy in Africa-EU Cooperation Country Report for Ghana, Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership and the National Plastic Management Policy.

His quest to highlighting critical issues has earned him some modest recognition such as being named as a finalist in the 2019 Africa Science Desk Journalism Award by African Academy of Sciences, and Winner of the 2019 Best Science Journalist, Winner of the 2018 Best Environmental Journalist and Winner of the 2012 Best Human Rights Journalist by GJA.

In 2014, Mr Oppong-Ansah, was awarded a full scholarship to the Wolfson Press Fellowship, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge where he developed a journalism-reporting manual on the environment.

He has participated in a number of fellowships, including the Media and Journalism Days in Africa 2020, the Climate Tracker Drylands Fellowship and the EJN Climate Change Media Partnership Fellowship to COP26.

Source: newsghana.com.gh