As SLAJ, WIMSAL, others congratulates her, Zainab Joaque encourages female journalists to be generous listeners and eager learners

​By: Alusine Rehme Wilson 

Following her triumph as one of the 25 finalists for this year’s Media Foundation for West Africa-(MFWA) Awards of Excellence which attracted a pool of congratulatory messages from Sierra Leonean Journalists at home and abroad, as well as organizations including SLAJ, Journalist Zainab Iyamide Joaque has urged Female journalists to be generous listeners and eager learners.

She made the call in an interview with Awoko Newspaper after being recognized by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) at this year’s West Africa Media Excellence Awards 2022 held in Ghana on Saturday, 22nd October 2022.

She further expressed great delight over her latest achievement saying: “I’m grateful for being honored with this Certificate of Merit, and for being the first finalist from Sierra Leone.

"We are all aware that despite achievements and progress made, African women face major challenges and obstacles but amidst that, they persevere to create a story for themselves that's worth telling. As female journalists we understand the battles we fight and that will give us the strength to fight their own by reporting on them accurately.

“Now is a good time to do that when our profession is being put under the spotlight. I am convinced that we shall accomplish more by reporting the truth, be generous listeners and eager learners, she urged.

She also emphasized that: “We (Female Journalists) owe it to the next generation of journalists and those that follow. I’m Grateful to my Editor and team at Awoko Newspaper for their endless support, she added.

The appreciated Joaque who is the SLAJEC Boss, the Electoral Commission of the umbrella body of Journalists in Sierra Leone, also writes for the leading print daily in her country-(Awoko Newspaper) where she's also one of the News Editors, received her certificate as one of the finalists at the MFWA Awards Night hosted in Ghanaian city of Accra.

According to the organizers, the certificate presented to her as one of the best contenders in the Women Empowerment Reporting Category out of the pool of Journalists in West Africa, is also one the rewards that comes after she and 24 others including the overall winners of this year’s MFWA Awards of Excellence.

For this year’s award Joaque had entered into this year’s contest alongside some 900 journalists from 400 media institutions with: “https://awokonewspaper.sl/special-iwd-feature-the-chairladykoinaduguwomen-vegetable-farmer-over-750-cooperative/,” a special International Women’s Day feature which she had inked in 2019 by way of honoring and telling the story of a female master farmer in Kabala, the district headquarter town of Koinadugu, which is one of the most famous economic centers in the Northeastern part of Sierra Leone.