The judging for the 2010 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards took place in CNN's London offices. The panel of judges, pictured above in CNN's studio, are : Front row: José Luís Mendonça, Press Counsellor, Angolan Permanent Delegation to UNESCO; Ikechukwu Amaechi, Editor, Daily Independent, Nigeria; Zipporah Musau, Managing Editor, Magazines, The Standard Group Ltd, Kenya and Joel Kibazo, Journalist and Media Consultant Back Row: Jean-Paul Gérouard, Deputy editor-in-chief, France 3 TV; Arlindo Lopes, Secretary General, Southern African Broadcasting Association; Ferial Haffajee, Editor-in-Chief, City Press, South Africa and Kim Norgaard, CNN Bureau Chief, South Africa

The finalists at the 2010 African Journalist Awards in Kampala, Uganda

Yesterday’s just concluded CNN/Multichoice Africa Journalist of the Year awards presented 19 talented African journalists  with awards  in various categories ranging from Business to HIV/AIDS reporting.

Held in the Victoria Hall of the Serena Conference Center in Kampala, dignitaries present included President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Among yesterday’s winners were Pelu Awofeso of Next Newspapers, Nigeria, Emmanuel Mayah of the Sun Newspaper, Nigeria, Roseline Wangui and Charles Kariuki from Kenya (TV News bulletin ), Lucas Ledwaba from South Africa (HIV/AIDS), Alexandre Lebel Liboudo from Ivory Coast (Francophone General News, Print ), Kassim Mohammed from Kenya (Radio General News ), Francis Mugo Mwangi and Kaara Wainana of Kenya (Economic and Business), Boniface Mwangi of Kenya (Photography), Leon Ssenyange of Uganda (Sports) and Sebastiao Vemba from Angola (Portuguese General News), Halima Kisule of Uganda (Environment), Kofi Akpabli from Ghana (Arts and Culture), Najlae Bembarek of Morocco (Francophone General News), Teresa Chirwa of Malawi (Health and Medical), the Dispatch Online Team from South Africa (Digital Journalism), and Mustafa Haji Abdinur of Somalia (Free press) among others.

CNN/Multichoice presented awards in the following categories:

From these category winners, the judges chose the overall winner – The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2010. This year’s African Journalist of the year was Sam Rogers, an executive producer at Third Degree, South Africa for her story, “Curse of the Nobody People.” Rogers had earlier won the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year award in 2001 with Jacques Pauw.

This year’s awards received more than 2,000 entries from 975 journalists in more than 40 African countries.

All finalists received a cash prize and each category winner received a laptop and printer.  The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2010 received an additional cash prize and  was awarded a trip to the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Photo Courtesy of CNN, Teeveetee

cnn africa journalist of the year winners, emmanuel maya, pelu awofeso, sam rogers