The award, which includes a brand new Toshiba Laptop Computer and a Certificate of Honour, was presented to the young journalist by officials of Kasa-Ghana through the Management of The Daily Dispatch in Accra last week.
Kasa-Ghana is a non-governmental organization that advocates for proper management of Ghana’s natural resources and environment as well as demanding adequate accountability from multinationals and companies involved in the extraction of minerals from the country’s natural environment.
Its corporate name, ‘Kasa’ drawn from the twi language which literally means Speak Out, Kasa-Ghana is one of the few NGOs in the country that has been in the forefront of speaking against the excessive and reckless exploitation of the country’s natural resources such as gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, iron ore, timber, etc.
The organization advocates for the judicious extraction of these mineral resources through the involvement of the media, communities affected by mining activities and other civil society organizations in an attempt to fight climate change and desertification in Ghana .
In order to encourage journalists to persistently and continuously report on negative environmental practices, most especially those perpetuated by companies in the extractive industry, Kasa-Ghana instituted an award scheme to reward those who have a deep sense of understanding in the natural environment and ready to fight throtheir reportage by exposing bad practices that pose danger to the natural environment and other living things including man.
Thus, in 2010 another competition was announced on the NGO’s website for journalists who are into environmental reporting to submit stories they have written and published in their respective media houses and beyond.
Joseph Ziem, who was one of the many journalists across the country to enter the competition, doubted he would emerge winner at the grand finale which was scheduled to take place in December 2010 but unfortunately could not come off.
But lo and behold, Joseph Ziem had a phone call from the Kasa Secretariat in Accra after close of work on Thursday June 23, 2011 when he was informed that, he had won the Kasa 2010 Media Awards for Best Journalist For Natural Resources And Environmental Governance.
According to the young journalist, “he had beaten a whole class in exams before. He led groups to win keenly contested competitions when he was still a school boy. But, he has never received any award as a measure of his efforts and outstanding performance.”
Joseph Ziem continued by saying “he least expected he would win the 2010 Kasa Media Awards because, the article he submitted was his first ever written article as a professional journalist and besides, that was the first time he’d entered into a media award contest.” I’ve always known that I will win an award one day in this profession may be by the time I turn 30 or 40 years of age but not at the age of 25, he added.
He thanked Kasa-Ghana, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Koranteng of WACAM and Messrs Kasim Abdallah and Alhassan Imoru of RUMNET for being a source of inspiration to him.
Meanwhile, Joseph Ziem has dedicated the award to all staff of The Daily Dispatch most especially Mr. Ben Ephson, Managing Editor of the paper for his words of encouragement and the entire membership of the Media Advocates for Sustainable Environment (MASE) which he is the Northern Regional Coordinator.
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