Alieu Ceesay dedicates ‘Stay at home’ award to Gambians

Merck Foundation with African First Ladies crowned the Qtv reporter the winner of the West Africa category.

Alieu Ceesay Winner of "Stay at Home" Media Awards to Raise Awareness on COVID 19

The “Stay at Home” Media Recognition Awards were introduced in partnership with African First Ladies of Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Namibia, Niger, Guinea Conakry, Burundi, Central African Republic (C.A.R.), Chad, Zimbabwe, Zambia, The Gambia, Liberia and Congo Brazzaville, Angola and Mozambique.

The theme of the ‘Stay at Home’ Media Recognition Awards is to acknowledge the most creative and influential media work that was instrumental in raising awareness about Coronavirus.

Alieu Ceesay is further rewarded as a Merck Foundation Alumni, and provided with one year access to online educational training programme called “MasterClass”.

He explained that when the pandemic started people were asked to stay at home and looking at media’s critical role in ensuring the public is informed about the pandemic and how to keep themselves safe, the award was open for journalists around Africa to submit their work.

Mr. Ceesay described winning the award as gratifying and a proud moment for him as a journalist, his media organisation and the entire Gambian media.

“Winning the award is something worth celebrating for me because I competed with journalists from bigger nations.

He stated that the award will further challenge him to work harder to ensure he win more awards.

“The award is quite motivating but comes with challenges for me to work harder,” he went on, while advising Gambian journalists to believe in themselves and have passion for the noble profession, be dedicated, work harder and be committed to the work.

He also urged his fellow journalists to stay focused, always support and celebrate each other.

He finally thanked everyone for the support over the years, saying it has been a rather long journey.

Meanwhile, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation emphasizes, “I am very proud of our winners. We received a tremendous response from African journalists in form of their entries. I truly believe that Media plays a crucial role in educating and sensitising our communities about health and sensitive issues such as COVID-19, therefore, through the awards, we are recognising the distinguished reportage and the exceptional work of journalists who frequently covered this topic in their countries.”