The Times photographer, cartoonist win awards

A photographer and a cartoonist with Allied Newspapers scooped two awards at the Malta Journalism Awards held last night.

For the second time, Chris Sant Fournier won the press photography award for his stunning pictures of the aftermath of a fireworks factory explosion, the arrival of illegal immigrants at Marsaxlokk, and a photo of a premier division match goal celebration.

Cartoonist Maurice Tanti Burlò earned himself the top award also for the second time in the press cartoons section.

The Gold Award - which recognises those who have gone beyond the standard and professional requisites of journalism during their career was presented to John Manduca by the chairman of the Gold Award judging panel, former President Ugo Mifsud Bonnici.

Mr Manduca had joined Allied Newspapers as a journalist in 1945, working his way up to parliamentary and deputy editor. He had also held a senior position in the Broadcasting Authority and then served as Maltese High Commissioner in London.

The Gold Award was presented by David Brockdorff, managing director of BPC. Previous winners of the Gold Award were Fr Joe Borg, Anton Cassar, Frank Attard, J.G. Vassallo, and Anthony Montanaro.

The other awards were won by the following: Print journalism - Joe Mifsud, KullHadd; broadcast journalism film - Marvin Baldacchino, Super One; broadcast script - Glenn Bedingfield, Super One; sports journalism - Christian Micallef, Net TV; and electronic media - Martin Debattista, www.maltamedia.com.

The winner of the new category, l-Ilsien Malti fil-Gurnalizmu, sponsored by the Akkademja tal-Malti with the assistance of the Ministry of Education, was Joyce Guillaumier. There were 20 submissions for this category.

The 13th edition of the annual press competition, previously known as the BPC Awards to Journalists, had a new format this year, with the number of categories increased from five to seven.

The finalists were selected after an invitation to all journalists to submit their best works throughout the previous year. A total of 51 journalists submitted three pieces of work published or broadcast last year, 16 more than in previous years.

The winners received a trophy designed by Luciano Micallef, Lm150, a voucher from Eurosport and a donation from the Tumas Fenech Foundation for Journalism.

The award ceremony will be broadcast on TVM on Saturday.