Editorial Desk 
(From Left)Sanlam Kenya Group Chief Financial Officer Kevin Mworia, Group CEO Patrick Tumbo(Centre)and Acting Sanlam General Insurance CEO Caroline Laichena(Right)Photo/Courtesy
Sanlam Kenya has announced the opening of the Sanlam Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism, one of the leading initiatives in Africa, recognizing exceptional business journalism.
This year, the judging panel will be chaired by a South Africa-based Kenyan Communication Scholar, Nixon Kariithi, who will lead a bench of eight accomplished mass communication experts and practitioners. Another Kenyan scholar and Public Relations Consultant Tom Indimuli will also sit on the judge’s panel.
Kenyan scholar Nixon Kariithi to chair continental judges’ Sanlam Kenya Group CEO Dr Patrick Tumbo said the awards will celebrate outstanding journalism as part of a strategic effort to deepen the value of financial journalism in Africa.
Sanlam Kenya, an operating subsidiary of the Sanlam Group- the largest non-bank financial services firm in Africa- has been supporting the initiative, producing several Kenyan winners in the last decade.
“Such awards deserve our corporate support as they help to nurture and celebrate financial journalists’. In an information economy, financial journalism will continue enjoying pride of place as a key plank that advances financial literacy for development,” Dr Tumbo said.
The 2021 awards are open for print, radio, television, and online media. African journalists in Africa, working in an African news organisation, and publishing or broadcasting their works on the continent are eligible for the competition.
Entries must have been published between 1 January and 31 December 2021 and submitted through the Sanlam website https://www.sanlam.co.za/sponsorships/media/financialjournalism/enter/Pages/entry-form.aspx.
The link also has detailed information on the eligibility guidelines, criteria on submitted works, and entry rules for the awards.
Submissions must consist only three pieces of journalistic work in English, French, or Portuguese. The deadline for entries is 28 February 2022.
The competition comprises seven category prizes and three special awards, presented as follows:
Category Awards:
o Business and Companies
o Financial Markets
o Consumer Financial Education
o The Africa Growth Story
o Broadcast: Radio/Audio/Podcasting (in business reporting)
o Broadcast: Television/Video (in business reporting)
The Business/Companies, Economy, Financial Markets and Consumer Financial Education categories are open to South African journalists only. Entries must be from print and online media.
The Africa Growth Story, Broadcast: Audio, and Broadcast: Video categories are open to South African journalists as well as African journalists in the rest of Africa working in an African news organization and practicing journalism on the continent.
The Africa Growth Story category was introduced in 2013 to recognize exceptional business journalism focusing on the growth of the continent in terms of investment, infrastructure development, economic progress, and related topics. Stories should reflect a Pan African outlook and regional integration theme.
Special Awards:
o Best Newcomer
o Lifetime Achievement
o Sanlam Financial Journalist of the Year
Winners of the special awards are selected through a rigorous nomination and evaluation process by the independent judging panel. For over four decades, the awards have been acknowledging the best financial journalism in Africa and have attracted widespread interest from the continent.
In 2020, the judging panel received 100 entries from journalists representing more than 40 media organizations.
The Africa Growth Story, a popular category in the competition, received 23 entries spanning countries across the geopolitical and economic blocks of the continent.
The judging panel consists of Nixon Kariithi (chair of the panel), Paula Fray (expert media trainer), Charles Naude (retired business editor), Ulrich Joubert (retired independent economist), Ylva Rodney Gumede (head of the division for Internationalization and professor in the school of communication at the University of Johannesburg) Angela Agoawike (communications consultant based in Nigeria), Tom Indimuli (media consultant based in Kenya), and Emily May Brown (media lecturer at Polytechnic of Namibia).
