Odimegwu Onwuwere of Africa Prime News has won the Pan African Journalist of the Year Award for the 2018 Pan African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards sponsored by Continental Reinsurance.
He emerged the overall winner of the three categories of the award at a Gala dinner held during Continental Reinsurance’s CEO Summit held on April 9th 2018 in Swakopmund, Namibia.
Otiato Guguyu, a Business and Data Journalist with Standard Group Kenya won the Best Re/Insurance Industry Feature Article, while Adenike Popoola, Chief Correspondent of Nigerian’s The Punch newspaper emerged the winner for Best Re/Insurance Industry Analysis and Commentary.
According to a press statement by Ceciliah Kimuyu, Senior Account Manager at Continental Reinsurance PLC. Onwumere’s winning article was titled ‘Africa emerging new frontier in the reinsurance markets’.
It investigated how foreign insurers that once rebuked Africa due to economic instability are now swarming for businesses on the continent because the sector is becoming alluring and dynamic due to unswerving GDP growth.
Guguyu wrote on the Business of protecting wealth from drought focusing on how an insurance scheme that was introduced in the dry regions of Kenya is cushioning farmers from losses; while Popoola, won for her article, Foreigners taking over Nigerian insurance industry, which discusses how the recapitalisation trend is transforming the insurance industry and its expectations in the future.
Gareth Stokes, a seasoned financial journalist with Commercial Risk Africa (CRA) in South Africa won a special award in recognition of his exemplary contribution to Re/ Insurance journalism and was recommended to become a judge in future editions.
Gareth emerged the Pan African Journalist of the Year in 2017 awards.
The winners will win a combination of financial and practical training prizes. The overall winner will also win a fully-paid trip to attend CRA’s training in London, UK including a one-week internship.
Two new categories will be included in next year’s Awards – for broadcast and online entries.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Dr. Femi Oyetunji, Continental Reinsurance’s Group Managing Director noted that the awards are an extension of the company’s continued commitment to advance excellence in the sector.
The third edition of the journalism awards received 61 entrants from 15 English and French speaking countries including: Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia, Mauritius and Zambia for Anglophones; Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Senegal, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo for Francophones.
The entries were assessed and evaluated by an independent panel of judges, which comprised five insurance and business media experts: Nadia Mensah Acogny, Journalist, Forbes Afrique; Tony van Niekerk, Editor, Cover Publications; Afif Ben Yedder, Founder, IC Publications; Michael Wilson, Business and Finance Journalist and Kenneth Igbomor, Market News Editor (West Africa), CNBC Africa.
“I have had the honour of being a judge for two consecutive years, and I would like to note that the quality of entries has significantly improved. There were also more contenders for the top scores than there were last year, which is encouraging progress,’’ noted Nadia Mensah Acogny, Chairperson of the 2018 Judging Panel.
Commenting on the French entries, Ms. Nadia said, “There are many excellent francophone journalists on the continent, who should rise and compete with their fellow business journalists by participating in these awards. I would like to encourage French writers to submit their entries for the 2019 awards.”
Continental Reinsurance initiated the journalism awards in 2015 to recognise and acknowledge the good work of media on the continent. Journalists are required to demonstrate how their articles raised awareness and understanding of the re/insurance sector in Africa.