Os vencedores do Waxal – Blogging Africa Awards (BAA) foram anunciados. Waxal é uma iniciativa do Instituto Panos da África Ocidental [en, Panos Institute of West Africa (PIWA)] em parceria de Highway Africa [en] e do Global Voices Online (África Sub-saariana).
Waxal (pronuncia-se UÓ-ROL), que significa “fala” em Wolof [pt], captura a essência da evolução da worldwide web como uma plataforma para conversação e levantamento das vozes marginalizadas. A primeira edição do prêmio reconhece o uso da nova mídia pelos jornalistas profissionais na África e pelas organizações midiáticas africanas que trabalham para promover a produção de informação alternativa e expressão cidadã.
Depois de revisar os blogs inscritos, membros do júri concederam quatro prêmios em três categorias anunciadas no início do concurso e um prêmio especial de encorajamento. O júri procurou por blogs que ilustrassem uma boa linha editorial, qualidade de expressão, interação com usuários, originalidade, publicações freqüentes e variedade no conteúdo. Dez blogs também chamaram a atenção dos membros do júri.
O júri foi formado por: dr. Lilian Ndangam, professor de mídia camaronês radicado no Canadá, Joel Phiri, cineasta e especialista em multimídia do Zimbábue, e Fatou Jagne, especialista em mídia e liberdade de expressão. Ela é a coordenadora do programa Article 19 Africa. Todos os membros do júri são bilingües.
E os vencedores são…
1. Melhor Blog de Jornalista (em língua francesa):
Cedric Kalonji da República Democrática do Congo (ele costumava blogar em www.congoblog.net). Cedric trabalha há cinco anos como jornalista para a Radio Okapi:
I have been working for five years as a journalist for Radio Okapi (http://www.radiookapi.net) in Kinshasa. In 2005, I created a Blog on which I posted pictures and personal thoughts on ordinary daily life in Congo. More precisely, it all started in September 2005. At the time I was using a small digital camera that my mother had given me as a present. I posted my pictures and wrote captions to explain the content of the photos in more detail. (…) Very quickly I received comments and points of views from visitors, mainly from Congolese living abroad. At that time, there were very few pictures of Kinshasa on the Internet; this was a result of the 32 year-long dictatorship under Mobutu (…)I come from a country where most of the journalists are praising those in power, in order to receive protection and rewards. It is difficult, in that context, to be an independent journalist. You have to withstand strong criticisms and sometimes even threats. Thanks to the Internet, I can publish my articles without fearing the censorship that the ordinary newspapers are subject to. (…) My desire to share experiences of my daily life was driven by a deep need to express myself freely. Thanks to my Blog, I had the opportunity to develop a media of my own, and to talk freely on subjects that matter to me, without being censored. Nevertheless, I was and am very careful with my editorial line, and always take into account my own security.
Ele recebe 1 milhão de Francos CFA (aproximadamente US$2.000).
2 – Melhor Blog de Jornalista (em língua inglesa):
Rosebell Kagumire [en], uma jornalista de Uganda. Rosebell trabalha para o jornal Independent. Ela bloga principalmente sobre seu trabalho como jornalista:
I write mainly about my job as a journalist and also I comment on socio-political issues in Uganda and Africa mostly. I also write about opportunities that my colleagues can benefit from especially media related training. I write about conflict and the work I write in other media is always brought to feature on my blog. (…)Though very new my blog gives people my views about my life, my country and life generally (…)My interest in blogging is to express myself in sometimes ways that cannot be accepted in the media. I believe also it’s important for people and friend s to know my thought, principle and values which are all reflected in the different posts on my blog. I also think I can trigger discussion about many issues some of which I write about and others that are featured in the media for positive change. I get discussions going especially by posting my blog posts on facebook to share them with my colleagues. Through such discussion i get to know how the society views certain issues.
Rosebell recebe 1 milhão de Francos CFA (aproximadamente US$ 2.000).
3 – Melhor Blog de Organização da Sociedade Civil Africana:
Lusaka Times, um blog de notícias e discussão feito por zambianos por todo o mundo.
LT is an electronic news platform that allows all types of users to have an open discussion on the day to day current issues in Zambia. The idea that is powering Lusakatimes today was birthed in 1998 as a casual conversation between friends. In 1999, the idea was made manifest with the launch of Lusaka Information Dispatch. The project was funded by the Dutch IICD who provided seed capital for the equipment and operational costs for a limited duration. However, the operational model for Information Dispatch proved too difficult to sustain at the time. In 2002 Information Dispatch suspended its operation after key members quit the group. In January 2007, the site was re-launched under the new URL address called lusakatimes.com and a new operational model. Today Lusakatimes is run by a number of people distributed around the world, working in an open source type of structure, purely driven by hobby and ambition to provide Zambians around the world with current news content based on facts and not speculation. Our day to day news content comes from known Zambian sources like Zambia Daily-Mail, Times of Zambia, ZNBC and ZANIS. These are the giants whose shoulders we stand on. Our added value to the commodity called news is the speed with which we deliver it to our readers and the community, feeling and experience we have created around the news content on our website. Additionally, Lusakatimes also provides a platform for any Zambian who wants their article published, provided they take full ownership and responsibility of the content. The ability of our users to be able to read news and anonymously provide immediate feedback is something we have always highly valued from the Information Dispatch days. Lusakatimes.com was ranked as the most visited website in Zambia under traffic listing on Alex.
Lusaka Times recebe 2 milhões de Francos CFA (aproximadamente US$ 4.000).
4. Prêmio Especial do Panos Institute West Africa para a África ocidental:
Israel Yoroba Guebo da Costa do Marfim. Israel recebe 500.000 Francos CFA (aproximadamente US$ 1.000).
Abaixo estão os blogs que receberam felicitações do júri:
Categoria 1: Melhor Blog de Jornalista em francês (classificação sem hierarquia):
Edouard Tamba de Camarões
Ramata Sore de Burkina Faso
Basile Niane de Senegal
Categoria 2 – Melhor Blog de Jornalista em inglês (classificação sem hierarquia):
Emmanuel Onyango da Tanzânia
Conrad Dube from Zimbábue
Khaya Dlanga da África do Sul
Categoria 3 – Melhor Blog de Organização da Sociedade Civil Africana (classificação sem hierarquia):
Penplusbytes’ blog que cobriu as eleições de 2008 de Gana
REgul-Telco-Afrik do Senegal
20mai.net de Camarões
Remastp News
Outros blogs que chamaram a atenção dos jurados, individualmente, mas que não foram escolhidos por unanimidade por razões distintas:
Remmy Nweke da Nigéria
Martin Aihonnou de Benin
Nadine Kouamouo-Tchaptchet da Costa do Marfim
Vusi Gumede da África do Sul
Khaya Dlanga da África do Sul
Shashank Bengali do Quênia