Female Blogger Honoured

STAFF REPORTER

Young Zimbabwe blogger, Angelinah Chiwonerwa was on Wednesday presented with the Youth Voice Award by the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT), at a colorful event held at New Ambassador Hotel, Harare.

Angelinah Chiwonerwa with the guest of honor , Abigail Gamanya (Director of Gender and Media Connect)

The Youth Voice Award is a  two year old baby of YETT. The award was initiated in  2014 to encourage journalists to recognize and reflect youths as positive drivers of social change in their communities. This year, YETT  made another call for journalists to submit their broadcasted clips, published and specific online links for monitoring. In a speech given by the organisation's  Programmes Officer, Samantha Moyo, she disclosed that the organisation reached an average of 984 journalists from Masvingo, Harare and Bulawayo. With the help of independent consultants, 98 journalists were shortlisted from 30 media houses based on their relevance to Youth Voice Award .

The selection for the 2016 Youth Voice Award was done under three main categories: Print Journalism (Comprising of features/articles published in newspapers and online newspaper publications on contemporary youth issues), Community Journalism (Publications on contemporary youth issues in the community) and Online Journalism (online blogs on contemporary youth issues). Angelinah Chiwonerwa scooped the award for Best Female Online Journalist as she covered relevant issues pertaining to young people in Zimbabwe.

During a question and answer session, the editor of the Suburban Newspaper, Itai Musengeyi suggested that YETT should offer training workshops for journalists who cover youth issues so that they can improve in their work. Currently, most reports on young people's voices in the politics of the country are inclined to political violence. In the same vein of negative publicity, Samantha Moyo also explained how media houses like H-Metro focus mostly on scandals. Journalists who cover youth issues are called upon to take the bull by the horn and shout from the rooftops on the impact made by young people in the nation and the world at large.

Abigail Gamanya, the Director of Gender and Connect, was the guest of honor at this inspirational event. She  has over 16 years in media activism and strategic communications, standing as a role model to young female journalists.