Observer’s Ingrid Brown scores again in Fair Play Awards
OBSERVER senior reporter Ingrid Brown yesterday won a $50,000 cash prize and a certificate of merit for placing second in the Jamaica Broilers Fair Play Awards at a luncheon held at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.
Brown, who was last year’s winner in the print category, was awarded for three human-interest articles titled “I want to learn”, “Needy youngster now in school but has nowhere to live” and “A home for Christmas”.
The judges said the pieces were “simply brilliant, well done and seemed to have produced results”.
Said the judges: “Being able to help bring relief to vulnerable people is one of the hallmarks of great journalism.”
Observer CEO Edward Khoury collected the award on behalf of Brown, who is on a journalism fellowship in Washington DC.
CVM TV, which copped first place in the electronic section for its entry “In arms way” (Part 1 and 2), was the top entry in the competition.
The awardees – Andrew Cannon, Sonia Stewart, Omar Green & Racquel Reece – received $150,000 and a trophy.
The Gleaner’s Tyrone Reid was the first-place winner in the print section. He collected $150,000 and a trophy for his entry “The Ammunition Affair”, while his colleague Daraine Luton received a certificate of commendation for his series titled “Bauxite’s Last Days”.
The third-place winners were IRIE-FM’s Sheryl Johnson and Patrice Walters, who won $25,000 and were awarded a certificate of merit for their entry “Lost innocence”.
Chief judge, Dr Hopeton Dunn, said there were 34 entries in the competition, which were “variably outstanding” with about a third really measuring up to the required standards.
Journalists who attended the function were reminded by guest speaker, Dr Herbert Thompson, president of Northern Caribbean University, of the importance of their roles in media and in producing a story that was thoroughly investigated and accurate.
Dr Thompson said journalists should ensure that the contents of their works are based on hard facts and not on sensational spins, as the stories that are printed and broadcast become the topic for discussions for days and months.
