Get to Know the 17 EJAT Overall Winners
Past Overall Winners of Excellence in Journalism Awards in Tanzania (EJAT)
By Paul Mallimbo
Since the inception of the Excellence in Journalism Awards Tanzania (EJAT), 2009 the awards have been held every year without fail, consistently recognizing winners of various categories and overall winners from several media outlets.
In the early days, the overall winners were often veteran journalists, well-known within the industry. However, as time passed, we began to see winners emerging from lesser-known media outlets, many of whom were not yet known to the industry.
Over the span of 15 years, EJAT has witnessed four female journalists rise to claim the top honor in the media industry, breaking barriers and setting new standards. Female journalists began taking the overall winner position seven years after the awards started, with four women in total reaching this achievement consecutively.
During EJAT’s life, there have been two instances of tied overall winners. The first occurred in 2014 when two male journalists from the same media outlet shared the top prize. The second tie happened in 2019, when two journalists a female from TV and a male from print were both recognized as overall winners.
Since the awards began, ten overall winners have come from print media, five from television, and one each from radio and online media. In the EJAT history, Dar es Salaam region is leading for producing 82% of overall winners, this could be explained by number of media outlets based in Dar es Salaam, notably The Citizen (four times), Mwananchi (two times), Mlimani TV and Nipashe (two times), ITV, Daily news, TBC 1, (once each).
The following media outlets are based outside Dar es Salaam and each produced one winner, these are CG FM (Tabora) and KTV TZ Online in Zanzibar
Some notable past overall winners of EJAT include:
2009: Jerry Muro, ITV
2010: Orton Kiishweko, Daily News
2011: Neville Meena, Mwananchi
2012: Lucas Liganga, The Citizen
2013: Juma Iddi Yusuph, Afya Radio (Mwanza)
In 2014, Lucas Liganga and the late Mkinga Mkinga from The Citizen shared the award for their expose of the ESCROW scandal. In 2015, Frank Bahati from TBC won for his revealing stories on drug abuse in Dar es Salaam.
One of the overall winners, Lucas Liganga, holds a record that remains unbroken to this day—being an overall winner for two years. Lucas Liganga first won the overall award in 2012, and again in 2014, this time sharing the position with his colleague, the late Mkinga Mkinga, from the Citizen newspaper.
EJAT’s first female overall winner came in 2016, when Florence Majani from Mwananchi was awarded for her stories on disability in Maasai culture and a profile of a former government hangman.
The following year (2017), Vivian Pyuza from CG FM (Tabora) won for stories on women burned on suspicion of witchcraft and others using tobacco leaves to suppress sexual urges.
In 2018, Salome Kitomari from Nipashe became the overall winner with her investigative stories on financial mismanagement in markets and pension benefits. The 2019 awards saw a tie between two young journalists: Halili Letea from The Citizen and Hilda Phoya from Mlimani TV.
Adrian Nicholaus Mgaya from Mlimani TV was the overall winner in 2020 for his moving story on the lives of rural fistula patients. In 2021, ITV journalist Masekepa Natisa Asangama won for his stories on world heritage conservation and a documentary on Bibi Titi Mohammed’s contributions to the country’s independence.
The 2022 overall winner was Sanula Athanas from Nipashe with his two stories on Wildlife accidents surge by 400%, with animal deaths from vehicle collisions now rivalling those caused by Lion predation in the reserve, while the 2023 overall winner was from online media, recognized for stories in the Environmental and Water Sources Protection Reporting category and Business, Economy, and Finance Reporting on Zanzibar’s blue economy.