BUJUMBURA August 11th (ABP) – The regional and publication director of Le Journal Africa (JA), Mr. Prosper Aobe, hosted on Monday, August 8, 2022, in Bujumbura, a press conference as part of the launch of the activities of the first edition of the annual competition for media productions called “Press Talent”, initiated by the said newspaper under the theme “Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on socio-economic life in Burundi”.
According to Mr. Aobe, The JA aims to direct African readers to safe sources, for reliable information in order to bring together young Africans in the struggle for peace and sustainable development through different recreational and competitive activities.
Aware of its responsibility to raise public awareness of the problems present in society in its various fields of intervention, including education, the environment, health, the economy, politics, security, justice, sport and culture, the JA ensures the competence of journalists who deal with subjects in this or that other field. Thus, that competition will reward each year the best journalistic works around a given theme, defined by the ad-hoc organizing committee set up for this purpose, said Mr. Aobe.
According to the president of the commission in charge of organizing the annual “Press Talent” competition, Mrs. Djemima Nzombo, the objective of this competition is to promote the interest of scientific knowledge in the journalistic field in order to allow journalists to specialize in different areas of social life. For this edition, she added, it is a question of encouraging media players to specialize in the theme of health, to produce quality articles and programs to make the population aware of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on daily life. It is also a question of promoting the theme “Health” in the Burundian press to contribute to the achievement of universal health coverage.
At the end of the first edition of the “Press Talent” competition, the JA expects the strengthening of the knowledge of journalists working in Burundi on the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on socio-economic life, production at least 30 media work to raise public awareness of the dangers of this pandemic as well as the creativity and analytical mind of journalists in scientific fields in general and in the field of health in particular, she pointed out.
Mrs. Nzombo also pointed out that this competition is open to any journalist aged 18 to 35, working in one or more local media, excluding Le JA, and recognized by the National Communication Council. (CNC) with a valid press card or whose file is officially recognized as being processed.
Applications will be submitted via an online form located at the URL address or will be sent by email to presstalent@lejournal.africa. The application file must consist of the personal identity of the candidate for the competition, a copy of the press card or an official document showing that the file is being processed by the CNC and a production, in DOCX or PDF format containing between 700 and 1000 words in the case of an article written in French, mp3 in the case of an audio report and mp4 if it is a TV report in French or in Kirundi and whose duration is between 2 minutes and 2 minutes 30 seconds, or links to these productions with read or read-write access in the case of a Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud link or any other file storage and sharing service.
According to Ms. Nzombo, the article must contain at least three subheadings, 8 points spacing between paragraphs, one point (1) spacing between lines, with Calibri (Body) font and be justified with a 14-point type size. The productions must be published between July 15, 2022 and August 30, 2022 in a press organ directly or indirectly employing the candidate. Applications must be submitted no later than August 30, 2022 at 23:59 UTC+2. “Three best works will be awarded by Le JA, one for each category up to 500,000 FBu. Depending on the availability of prizes, other places may be awarded, “she said. It should be recalled that Le JA is a private web media, specializing in Africa, established in Burundi since 2017 and approved by the CNC in 2019.