Eldoret MRC Story of the Month Award Winner - December 2011

And the winner is ….Joshua Cheloti! Cheloti, a journalist with Eldoret based Biblia Husema Broadcasting emerged top in the inaugural “Story of the Month” award programme initiated by Internews Eldoret Media Resource Centre. The award was introduced in December 2011. It attracted eleven entries from print and radio journalists. The idea of the “Story of the Month Award” was to recognize and celebrate powerful Conflict Sensitive Journalism stories, and serve as a platform for journalist’s to critique their own pieces. The monthly event also aims at promoting the culture of producing quality stories. Cheloti, a radiant and soft spoken journalist is a frequent visitor at the EMRC. The feature story he presented was pegged on election preparedness in the Rift Valley ahead of the 2012 general election. The story was produced after an Internews roundtable addressed by US Ambassador Scott Gration, Reverend Rirei and electoral commission representative Bilah Kiptugen (link to story). “I didn’t expect it….I am not used to doing features” said Cheloti. “I feel like I am growing in journalism and in features through the help of Internews”. Announcing the winning story, the jury made up of Trainers Fredrick Muriithi and Isaac Sagala described his feature as “a well researched and well balanced piece that integrated all relevant voices in line with the Conflict Sensitive Journalism approach”. Fellow journalist Alex Mmera of Sayare Radio, who also attended the award ceremony, said “It’s well researched and balanced, but it is also timely considering that we are heading to the election period”. Cheloti said that he had discovered a passion for writing feature stories. He is now working on reform stories. Find Cheloti’s piece in the link below: