Jury
Entries are judged by an independent jury drawn from well-seasoned media experts and academics in Zambia who have previously held positions of high esteem in their career.
The right to withhold award prizes is reserved if the judges consider that no entry in a specific category merits a winner. The judge’s decision is final.
The names of the jury members will be released after the media awards ceremony.
Judging criteria
The judges will be looking for the following:
- Analytical reporting
- Use of facts in the reporting
- What type of effect the reporting had?
- Did it trigger discussion or debate?
- Did it result in policy action or improvement in service?
- Independence
- Impartiality
- Coherence, simplicity, clarity, and plot
- For video and audio submissions, the clarity and quality of the submission will also be assessed as follows, in addition to adjudicators’ comprehensive checklist in the script:
- Good script without editorial and grammatical errors
- Tone and register of language in script
- Depth of facts – statistical data, convincing arguments
- Command of the English language
- Coherence in story
- Conversational and engaging – Good stories also include good conversations.
- Concise quotes where necessary or expected
- Well researched
- Relevant
- Adherence to ethical and legal considerations
Expected in Reporter/Producer
- Good delivery of script
- Confidence
- Courage
- Voicing – diction and intonation
- Ability to speak on-camera
- Narration of facts and details
- Pronunciation of words
- Asking real and intelligent questions
- Art of interviewing