ARUSHA - The East African Community (EAC) will at the end of this year award scribes and media houses that have extensively covered regional integration issues, a senior EAC official has said. 

"This has been designed to raise awareness within the media about the East African regional integration issues and its role in facilitating awareness and integration,” Owora Richard Othieno, the EAC Principal Information and Public Affairs Officer, told The New Times in his office yesterday.     

The awards which will include cash and non cash prizes, will be given to reporters and media houses in the region, during the EAC Heads of State summit scheduled for November this year in Arusha, Tanzania.    

The summit will coincide with the 10th anniversary celebration since the signing of the treaty that established the regional bloc.  

The EAC publicist added that the awards will be structured to recognize excellence in print, radio and television reports and also in segment reporting. 

"Individual journalists and media houses that excel will be rewarded,” Othieno added.  

 He was upbeat that this would encourage an increase in the amount of balanced coverage in the print and electronic media, "given to the challenges and opportunities existing in the business sector.” 

The awards, he said, will be a direct contribution to the specialized writing genre in development journalism.   

The competition, which was announced during the EAC media summit last Saturday, will have a panel of judges to include media managers and senior editors from the regional bloc’s five partner states. 

They will include The New Times Training Editor Arthur Asiimwe, Professor George Lugalambi head of the Makerere University Mass Communication department, and Joyce Mhaville, managing editor of ITV/Radio One. 

Others are; Herman Igambi, from the Royal Media Services in Kenya and Nestori Bakamukunzi, head of Burundi Broadcasting Services.  
 
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