Star's investigative reporter Fatuma Noor is the overall winner of the this year’s CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Award. Noor won the award for her investigative three-part series on the Al-Shabaab. It was chosen from the 1407 entries from 42 nations across Africa.
The series tells the story of the young men who give up their freedom abroad to return and fight for the Al-Shabaab in one of the world’s most dangerous places on earth – Somalia. See, the Lifestyle section for her three part award winning series
She was one of the 27 finalists at the awards ceremony held at the Johannesburg Sandton Sun hotel on Saturday evening. She was also winner in general news (print) award category.
Collins Khumalo, President, MultiChoice Africa and Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President of international news gathering for CNN Worldwide presented Fatuma with the award. “"I want to thank my mum and my boss Catherine, who believed in me when no one else did. There was a time in my life when I thought about giving up, but with this Award I'm not giving up any time soon," she said at the ceremony.
In 2009, Fatuma, who is a member of the board of the Forum for Investigative African Reporters, was awarded the runner up prize at the FAIR African Investigative Journalism Awards for her exceptional report on how underage girls from refugee camps were forced to work in a Nairobi brothel run by Somali warlords.
She is also this year's David Astor Journalism Awards winner as she is taking part in a three-month professional development programme. "Its a brilliant triumph for both the Star and Fatuma. It is international recognition that the Star represents a new wave of Kenyan journalism," William Pike, the CEO of the Star newspaper said. "Its a vindication of the hard work, grit and persistence that Fatuma puts into her work and which has served to inspire so many of her colleagues,”said the newspaper editor Catherine Gicheru.
The chair of the judging panel, journalist and media consultant Joel Kibazo said: “The judges were impressed with the high quality of entries to the competition this year, and this intrepid young journalist has shown great courage and determination in going the extra mile to tell this fascinating story. Fatuma Noor’s three-part series on the Al-Shabaab provides a detailed and personalised portrait of the young men who leave their comfortable western lives to join one of the world’s most ruthless militant groups in Somalia.”
The overall winner receives a substantial cash prize, a visit to the CNN Centre in Atlanta to attend the three-week CNN Journalism Fellowship, along with the prize awarded to all category winners, which consists of a laptop computer, a printer, a BlackBerry and a cash prize.
Source: The Star
