Two journalists from the Multimedia Group have won first and second places in the 2021 World Health Organisation’s Road Safety Reporting Contest.
They are; JoyNews’ Seth Kwame Boateng who placed first and Myjoyonline.com/Nhyira FM’s Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah, who came second.
Mr Boateng’s “Crushed Young: Child fatalities due to road accidents” documentary, which examined the toll road accidents have on children in Ghana, won him the honour.
The documentary was produced as part of efforts to address the increasing number of road accidents in the country.
It told the story of how children have been left with permanent disabilities after being knocked down by vehicles.
Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah’s “When the truck is long: Ghana’s outdated roads” piece was adjudged second best.
The piece centered on an accident involving a truck and a tricycle, which left three persons dead.
The feature article also assessed how poor state of roads contribute to motor accidents and suggested the way forward.
The two winners are expected to receive cash prizes of $1,500, and $1,000 respectively.
The WHO Road Safety Reporting Contest was part of a larger WHO and International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) program designed to increase the quality and quantity of news coverage on key road safety issues in 15 countries that are covered by the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety.
WHO data shows that over 1.3 million people die in road traffic crashes every year, with more than nine in ten deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries. Road traffic injuries are the biggest killer of children and young people globally and up to 50 million people are injured in road accidents every year.
“Road safety remains a salient issue globally,” said Johanna Carrillo, Vice President of Programmes for the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). “In-depth, solutions-oriented news coverage is critical for bringing attention to this important yet often under-reported topic.”
A distinguished panel of judges from WHO and ICFJ received 100 entries and selected three winners from six countries with high numbers of deaths – Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, India, and Uganda.
“The winning entries mark some of the best global coverage on road safety, and will help push for progress on building road safety systems to reduce the shocking and tragic toll on our roads that we all use every day,” said Dr Nhan Tran, WHO’s Head of Safety and Mobility.