GHOne TV’s multiple award-winning news anchor, Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman, has emerged Best African journalist in the TV category of the 2020 African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting (ACCER) Awards, held on the sidelines of the Fifth UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya.

While the pandemic has overwhelmed the news cycle and dominated headlines around the world, the young Journalist offered a rare perspective on used PPE disposal and gives comprehensive coverage of waste management gaps in Ghana’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.

Ridwan’s TV piece on Covid-19 waste disposal which has already received two awards from the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) beat two renowned Kenyan science reporters, Zeynab Wandati and Sheila Sendeyo, both of NTV Kenya to win the coveted prize.

The competition drew over 400 entries from across the African continent.

The winners of the different awards in the set categories were from all over the continent, from Benin, to Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Togo, Cameroon, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Algeria.

There were at least four categories done in two languages. They were Radio, Print, TV and digital.

The Radio (English) Category had Aunyango Nkhoma of ‘Zodiak Broadcasting Station’ in Malawi as the second runners-up, Victor Faison and Mphatso Mkumpha of Malawi’s ‘Chisomo Radio Station’ jointly as first runners-up, and Peter Labeja of Uganda’s ‘Radio Rupiny’ becoming the winner.

The Radio (French) Category’s three winners were all from Benin in the following order: Chamsou Dine Koto Baguiri of ‘Arzèkè FM’ was the second runners-up, preceded by Ernest Agbota of ‘Radio Nationale du Bénin’ as first runners-up, and finally Romain Dek Adjevi of ‘Radio Tokpa’ as the winner of the category.

Next was the TV (English) Category that was shared between Kenya and Ghana. Kenya’s ‘NTV’ produced the second runners-up and the first, both female. Sheilah Sendeyo and Zaynab Wandati were second and first runners-up respectively, while Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman of ‘GHOneTV’ in Ghana became the winner.

The TV (French) Category went to Vincent Kiendrebéogo of ‘Radio Broadcasting TV’ in Burkina Faso as second runners-up, Redha Menassel of Algeria’s ‘Radio Alger Chaine 3’ as first runners-up and Togolese Daniel Addeh of Cameroon’s ‘Tele Sud Channel’ as the winner.

The other category awarded by PACJA was Print (English). Its second runners-up was Amindeh Blaise Atabong of Cameroon, Daniel Wagema Mwangi of Kenya as the first runners-up and Olatunji Ololade of Nigeria’s ‘Nation’ newspaper as the winner.

Five editors and communication experts sat in the selection panel that came up with the winners announced yesterday. They were Michael Simire of EnviroNews, Nigeria, Lilian Odera (KTN), Gerard Senapkon Guedegbe of Benin and Andrew Kipkemboi of Standard Group. The four worked under the leadership of Emmanuel Wongibeo, who is also the Deputy Director of ‘Cameroon Radio TV’.

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Director for Africa, Dr Juliette Biao, graced the occasion and gave a televised speech stating that they were pleased to see PACJA achieve the fifth edition of the ACCER Awards despite the challenges brought about by the Covid-19 Pandemic throughout 2020, when calls for submission of stories for the competition were made.

“Climate Change, biodiversity loss and pollution … put the wellbeing of the current generation at unacceptable risk,” she said, adding that emissions were now 62 per cent higher than they were in 1990, with parts of the biodiversity threatened with extinction.

The African Climate Change and Environment Reporting (ACCER) Awards is a biennial initiative of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) that recognizes excellence in climate change and environmental journalism in Africa.
The ACCER Awards 2020 is the fifth in a series and comes at a time of uncertainty abound regarding climate action in the context of Covid-19 and other crises.

Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman is a multiple award winning broadcast journalist with more than 7 years experience.

He began his journalism career with the JoyNews channel of the Multimedia Group Limited in 2013 as general news reporter.

He currently works at GHOneTV, one of Ghana’s most watched channels as a producer, a news anchor, and a senior reporter.

Ridwan is a recipient of the 2018 Lorenzo Natali Media Prize, a global prestigious award run by the European Commission.

Ridwan, in May 2018, was named as finalist for the 2018 edition of the International Centre for Journalists’ prestigious Michael Elliott Award.
He is Ghana’s 2017 Best reporter in Development Journalism.
He is also a recipient of the African Media Initiative award for Best African Journalist for Peace and Security Reporting 2017 and 2016 Best Journalist Award in Rural Reporting from the Ghana Journalists Association.

Ridwan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Studies from the Ghana Institute of Journalism.