In Saturday July 15th in Maputo, Mozambique, Victoria Cullinan of South Africa was announced as the winner of the Celtel sponsored Arts and Culture journalist award at the CNN Multichoice African Journalist of the Year Awards 2006. Victoria was awarded the prize based on her excellence in reporting African arts and culture stories.
Victoria – who works for Carte Blanche, M-Net – was judged as the outright winner by an independent panel of judges.
As the winner of this prestigious award – proudly sponsored for the second year running by Celtel – Victoria won a state-of-the-art laptop computer with modem and an additional cash prize aimed at covering the cost of a top of the range printer.
Celtel’s support of African art and culture extends beyond the CNN African journalist awards; it also covers a range of other initiatives. An extensive music sponsorship programme supports, amongst other events, the prestigious Pearl of Africa Music Awards in East Africa, the Sounds of Wisdom (Sauti za Busaara) festival in Zanzibar and Gabon’s Gabao Hip-Hop festival. In addition to promoting Africa’s art and culture, Celtel’s “Build our Nation” initiative contributes to the education of Africa’s children through the donation of books to under-privileged schools.
Tito Alai, Celtel’s Chief Commercial Officer, commented, “Our commitment to celebrating African culture is a key part of Celtel’s mission to make life better for people and businesses across Africa. Journalists today are the story-tellers of the modern African world and we are delighted to be associated with an award that celebrates the positive portrayal of African culture.”
CNN International’s Managing Director, Chris Cramer, said “It’s fantastic to see that Celtel is helping CNN in developing journalism in Africa and growing this truly pan-African competition. Victoria is a more than worthy winner given the high standards of the competition she was facing.”
“I would like to congratulate Victoria who has excelled at raising the visibility of Africa’s rich and varied cultural heritage. We also would like to congratulate the winners of other categories from the countries in which Celtel operates including Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria”, added Tito Alai, Celtel’s Chief Commercial Officer.
