The New Times’ Eric Kabera and his former colleague Charles Kwizera are among 12 candidates shortlisted for the East African Secretary General’s award.Kwizera now works with another local publication but his entry was a story published in The New Times.Other awards in the categories of business and finance, agriculture and food security, health, environment, broadcast, political federation, and higher education are also up for grabs.Announcing the media awards finalists, the chairman of the Panel of Judges, Arthur Asiimwe, who is also the board chairman of the Media High Council, said the 12 finalists had quality stories, adding that media reporting on EAC integration was improving.He cited that the print section was better in EAC integration. "We had some excellent pieces, especially within the print section that were original and quite resourceful in pushing ahead the integration agenda”. "Overall, we were looking for originality and how relevant the story is to the subject of EAC’s integration. We went beyond mere reportage like we saw with some entries.” Kabera, whose stories were on political federation, said: "It is very encouraging to be among the finalists. It is my first time to be in a regional competition and my stories on political federation were analytical”.The competition that is jointly organised by the East African Community (EAC) and the East African Business Council (EABC) received more than 120 entries from all five EAC partner states with submissions in English, Kiswahili, French, Kirundi and Kinyarwanda this year. The winners of the competition will be announced at an Award Ceremony and Gala Dinner in Kigali, Rwanda on Thursday August 9, 2012.The other members of  the judging panel are Joyce Mhaville, Managing Director of  ITV of Tanzania, Salim Salim, a veteran journalist and media trainer; Ms Peace Uwineza, Peace  and Security Advisor, GIZ, and Jared Obuya, journalist and  Secretary General of the Kenya Union of Journalists.The sponsors for this year’s Awards include Trade Mark East Africa and the Inter University Council for East Africa.The annual EAC Media Awards is the premier regional competition for journalists, editors and commentators covering the East African Community (EAC) integration. It is jointly organised by the EAC and the East African Business Council (EABC). The awards aim at reinforcing the critical role of the media in driving the integration agenda and seek to recognise, reward and encourage journalistic talent across media platforms in the various aspects of regional cooperation.Nominees Nakaweesi Dorothy (Daily Monitor, Uganda)Wanjohi Kabukuru (Africa Business/Diplomat, Kenya)Victor Mubwigiri  (Burundi Agency, Burundi)George Omondi (Business Daily, Kenya) Zephania Ubwani (The Citizen, Tanzania)Peter Nyanje (The Citizen, Tanzania) Robert Koigi (African Laughter News Agency, Kenya) Kwizera Charles (Kigali Today, Rwanda)Odera A Wycliffe (Milele FM, Kenya)Agina Aby Wasonga (NTV, Kenya)Dicta Asiimwe (The East African, Uganda)Kabeera Eric (The New Times, Rwanda).