The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) will on October 27 and 28, 2017, host West Africa’s biggest media and free expression event known as the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA).
The event will be under the theme: The Media in West Africa: The Past, Present and the Future. The event will bring together media development and free expression experts and advocates; media owners; editors and journalists; as well as digital rights experts and activists.
The two-day conference will feature sessions that will explore the challenges to online and offline free expression in West Africa; the rising phenomenon of fake news and its implications for media credibility and trust; the media and violent extremism in West Africa; the Media and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Investigative Journalism; ICTs and Development; and Media Sustainability Models.
The conference will be followed by the maiden edition of the West Africa Media Excellence Awards. The awards will be honouring journalists from across West Africa whose works have contributed to bringing positive changes to society in the course of the last one year. The awards are intended to inspire and motivate journalism excellence in the West Africa region.
Categories of journalistic works that will be awarded through a competitive process will include those on investigative journalism; anti-corruption reporting; SDGs and development reporting; environment reporting; health reporting; peace and security reporting; telecoms and ICTs reporting; extractives industry reporting; banking and finance reporting; small business and SMEs reporting.
Other categories that will be awarded will be on journalistic works focusing on women’s rights and reproductive health; ECOWAS and Regional Integration; and human rights. Apart from category awards, the overall best journalist will be awarded with the prestigious Best West African Journalist of the Year prize.
Details on the award categories and how to apply will be announced soon after which journalists from Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone countries in West Africa can submit their works to a panel of judges for evaluation.
In the coming weeks, further details about the WAMECA event including registration for the conference will be communicated on the MFWA website and the event website.
Corporate and other organisations that will want to partner the MFWA for this prestigious event can contact the MFWA at info(at)mfwa.org or telephone +233-3022-4470.