The Eastern Regional Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) awards has been launched at Koforidua over the weekend.
This is to reward and motivate journalists who produce compelling development oriented stories in the region.
The maiden edition slated for May 2018 on the theme:’Repositioning Eastern Region for investments and job creation; Role of the Media’ will award journalists in various categories including Business/SME, Mining /environment, Rural Reporting, Road safety Reporting and Water/Sanitation Reporting.
Other categories are Morning show, Akan news caster and Crime/Court Reporting.
Speaking at the launch, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the GJA, Maxwell Kudekor said the media in the Eastern region for decades have  proven to be formidable and paid their dues to the nation.
According to him, journalists in the region brave death in pursuant of their constitutional mandate to let the people know.
“It is up to us to give ourselves recognition. If we wait for it to come from others, we feel resentful when it doesn’t and when it does we may as well reject it” Kudekor stressed
He suggested that, the leadership of GJA should consider making the national journalists awards competitive to cover all ten regions.
He said organizing GJA awards in all the  ten regions to select winners to compete for the national awards would be the best way to go.
Mr. Kudekor called on corporate bodies and institutions who believe in press freedom and promotion of responsible journalism to support their initiative.
Launching the award scheme, Mr. Michael Kofi Okyere-Baafi, the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Free Zones Authority, lauded the decision for choosing the theme since it is an urgent need for the Eastern Region, with its enormous natural resources, to be repositioned to attract more investors who will contribute in creating jobs for Ghanaians.
The Executive Secretary expressed worry that Ghanaians in general had little or no understanding of the free zones concept, the reason for which they seem to have left the big time business ventures in the imports and exports sector to the expatriates.
He called on the journalists in the region to turn their lenses and tools to sensitize residents on the relevance of engaging in businesses at the free zones to facilitate them  establish bigger industries that can offer employment opportunities to the teaming youth in the region.
Mr. Okyere-Baafi also announced that the free zones Authority has acquire an arable land at Kwamoso in the Akuapem North Municipality in the eastern region to be used for a light industrial area.
He said, the free zones Authority is  almost through on a deal with an  American investor to establish a magnificent pharmaceutical industry at Kwamoso in the Akuapem North Municipality of the Eastern Region and added that more of such industries can become a reality if the media plays its role well.
He  advised the media to endeavour to propagate the facts and the truth devoid of sensationalism.
Meanwhile, entries of journalistic works published between January and December 2017 will be received for vetting by a five-member committee from February 26 to March 26, 2018.
A five-member committee was inaugurated to receive and vet entries of stories from February 26 to March 26, 2018 to select the best to receive awards in May.
The awards committee is chaired by Dr. Jamal Mohammed, Senior Lecturer and Head of Department- Liberal Studies, Koforidua Technical University.
Eastern Region GJA awards launched
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