Ugandan journalists shortlisted for Africa-wide insurance reporting awards

Two Ugandan journalists have been shortlisted for the Pan-African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards, 2019.

Isaac Khisa of The Independent magazine and Samuel Sanya of the New Vision are among the nine journalists shortlisted from Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, Morocco and Benin.

The awards, run by Continental Reinsurance, was launched in 2015 and recognises outstanding work on reinsurance by journalists from the African continent.

In an email to ACME, Sanya said being on the shortlist has given him a much-needed boost in his work.

“It is a great motivation to make the short list in a tough continental competition. The shortlist is also a vote of confidence in business journalism in Uganda and the New Vision which has been gracious to oversee my growth and development.  I thank God for making it this far,” he said.

His story titled Microinsurance, new distribution methods to boost penetration, explores the growth of insurance in Uganda and contextualizes it against performance of sub-Saharan peers, hindrances to insurance penetration in Uganda and initiatives to for improvement.

While there is limited data on the prevalence and impact of reporting on personal finance, pensions and the insurance industry in much of Africa, ACME has evidence that journalism on business and economics is on the rise in Uganda. ACME’s annual report on press coverage of public affairs found that between July 2015 and June 2016, business and economy was the third most covered public affairs issue by Ugandan media, and became the second most covered issue in July 2016-June 2017.

In 2017, Khisa was awarded Best Re/Insurance Industry Analysis and Commentary for his article, titled Insurance industry tops Shs700bn. It highlighted the growth of the insurance industry in Uganda, the surge in premiums, and efforts to deepen insurance penetration especially in the area of micro-insurance.

This year’s awards categories included print, online and French.  The fourth category, the Pan-African Journalist of the Year, will given to a journalist selected from the shortlist. While the 2019 awards included a broadcast category, it was later replaced with the French category. In a communication to the finalists, the awards organisers noted that the broadcast entries this year were not outstanding.

The awards ceremony will take place on 28 March 2019 during the 6^th Continental Reinsurance CEO Summit at Sofitel Hotel in Mauritius. All shortlisted journalists will receive a certificate and winners will get a cash prize.

Full list of shortlisted journalists