In a short ceremony, held for the first time, The Malta Press Club last Tuesday presented certificates to 21 finalists of the Malta Journalism Awards. This is the 13th consecutive year that TMPC is organising these awards, which are open to all journalists, photographers, cartoonists, cameramen and sports journalists.
The winners of the eight categories in the Malta Journalism Awards will be announced tomorrow evening during the presentation ceremony, which will later be broadcast on television.
The finalists received their certificates from the most senior representatives of the various institutions and companies who, for the first time, are sponsoring the Malta Journalism Awards. These are: HSBC Bank Malta plc, the Broadcasting Authority, HP - Hewlett Packard, Michele Peresso Ltd, operators of EuroSport, the Farsons Foundation and Malta International Airport.
TMPC chairman Malcolm J. Naudi said: "The level of journalism in Malta is going up from one year to the next. In its report, this year's jury has given an indication that even this year significant progress has been registered in practically all categories; so much so that in certain categories only a few points separated the winner from the other finalists.
"For this reason, The Malta Press Club organised, for the first time, a special occasion in which all the finalists were honoured to recognise the contribution they are giving through their work throughout the year."
From among the 56 participants, the jury of this year's edition chose these finalists (in alphabetical order):
Print Journalism (sponsor: HSBC Bank Malta plc), Roderick J. Agius (Il-Mument), Cynthia Busuttil (The Malta Independent), Joe Mifsud (Kullhadd) and Matthew Xuereb (The Malta Independent);
Sports Journalism (sponsor: Michele Peresso Ltd - Operators of EuroSport), Paul Cachia (di-ve.com), Christian Micallef (Net TV) and Sandro Micallef/John Busuttil/Robert Cutajar (Net TV);
Press Cartoons (sponsor: Malta International Airport), Maurice Tanti Burlò (The Times/The Sunday Times) and James Sciberras (Il-Mument);
Photography (sponsor: The Farsons Foundation), Michael Ellul (In-Nazzjon), Christian Sant Fournier (The Times/The Sunday Times) and Darrin J. Zammit Lupi (The Times/The Sunday Times);
Electronic Media (sponsor: HP-Compaq), Dominic Aquilina (uefa.com), Martin Debattista (maltamedia.com) and Joe Mifsud (maltastar.com);
Broadcast Journalism (sponsor: Broadcasting Authority), Marvin Baldacchino (Super 1), David Gutteridge (PBS) and Marco Micallef (Super 1);
Broadcasting Script (sponsor: Broadcasting Authority), Glenn Bedingfield (Super 1), Miriam Dalli (Super 1) and Veronique Dalli (Super 1).
The jury of the Malta Journalism Awards is preparing a detailed report on the submissions and the level of journalism reached, which will be read out during the presentation tomorrow evening.
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, will also be announced. There were 14 participants in this category.
The winner of the Gold Award sponsored by BPC International Limited will also be announced tomorrow. This honour is given to the nominated individual who, according to the jury, went beyond the requisites of normal journalism practice during a long career in journalism.
There were four nominations for this year's edition. In the previous five editions, the award went to: Fr Joe Borg (1998), Anton Cassar (1999), Frank Attard (2000), J.G. Vassallo (2001) and Anthony Montanaro (2002).