APA – Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) Some 330 candidates from 12 countries on the African continent took part in the 10th edition of this competition, at the end of which a technician and a journalist were selected.
The 2023 technician winner of the Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon Bursary is Ange Joel Agbla, 23, who works at Radio Univers in Benin. He succeeds Henintsoa Tiana Miranto Rakotomalala of Madagascar, the 2022 winner.
The jury praised the quality of the sound and mixing. Ange Joel Agbla said he was “deeply honoured” to have been selected as the winner of this award, which “bears the name of a journalist and a technician who sacrificed their lives to inform the world.”
His report focused on Gaddafi, a toxic cocktail that highlights the scale of the problem of drug use. This deadly mixture of the painkiller Tramadol and the alcoholic drink Vody is wreaking havoc in Cote d’Ivoire.
“As the recipient of this scholarship, I pledge to honour their legacy by developing independent and honest journalism,” he said, while thanking all those who have supported him along the way.
The winner in the journalist 2023 category is Joseph Kahongo (27) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He said he had taken the competition three times, and this third time was the charm, an opportunity for him to pay tribute to Ghislaine and Claude.
On Thursday, these two winners and the 18 other previous winners created the Reseau Dupont-Verlon pour le Journalisme d’Investigation (Dupont-Verlon Network for Investigative Journalism, REJI), whose patron is Marie-Solange Poinsot, Ghislaine’s mother, who will be “soon 94 years.”
“It is with all my heart that I say yes, I want to be the patron of your association,” declared Marie-Solange Poinsot, for whom this murder is “the most horrible thing” that can happen to a journalist.
“We have never had so many applicants – 330 from all over Central and West Africa in 2023,” said Marie-Christine Saragosse, Chairman and CEO of France Medias Monde, in Abidjan on Thursday 2 November 2023.
The Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon grant is supported by RFI. For Marie-Christine Saragosse, the aim is to “recognise the promising talent of African professionals and pass on to the younger generation the passion and professionalism of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon.”
“Today, ten years later, we have to recognise that this assassination (which took place near Kidal, in north-eastern Mali) was not an isolated act, but the beginning of a deterioration in the status of journalists, particularly in the Sahel, and in press freedom,” she said.
The Ivorian Minister of Communication, Amadou Coulibaly, said that “being awarded this prize is a great responsibility that goes beyond knowing your talents to embrace notions such as ethics and morality.”
He praised the network that has been set up, which in his view “further enhances” their responsibilities, as they are the seeds of hope for ethical and responsible professional journalism, which must inspire others who embrace this profession at a time when it tends to be threatened by influencers.
The French ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire, Jean Christophe Belliard, welcomed members of the family and friends of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon who had travelled to Abidjan to take part in this 10th edition of the event.
A few days ago in Abidjan, Ivorian journalists paid tribute to the journalist Jean Helene, who was killed on the banks of the Ebrie Lagoon. For Jean Christophe Belliard, the French ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire, this prize is a “passing of the torch.”
AP/fss/abj/APA