KUCHING: Journalists from Sabah and Sarawak have not been vying for national awards in a big way and the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) wants too see a change.
Its Chief Executive Officer Datuk Dr Chamil Wariya said Hadiah Kewartawanan Malaysia (HKM) honours journalists producing outstanding reports in the country.
But there is a lack of submission from local news fraternities in Sarawak and Sabah, he said, pointing out that most submissions are from national news fraternities covering national based issues and topics.
“So far from Sarawak, only TVS reporter Salasiah Safian won the A. Samad Ismail Young Reporter Award at the Malam Wartawan Malaysia 2021.
“We want to encourage more Sarawakian reporters to submit their reports and to have a chance to win at the national awards in the future.
“A total of RM300,000 were given to the award winners last time. For the next, we are still in negotiations over the cash prizes,” he said.
Chamil said this during the Producing Award-Winning Stories – Definition and Categories of Hadiah Kewartawanan Malaysia (HKM) workshop at TEGAS Digital Village here today.
Chamil stated that MPI will include more languages such as Iban and Kadazan for reports written in those languages into the award categories.
For HKM, there are 14 categories namely Best Infographic, Best Front Page Design, Photojournalism, Photographic Essay, Feature Writing, the A. Samad Ismail Young Reporter Award (Print and TV) and Investigative Journalism.
There are also awards for Environmental Journalism – Petronas, Best Radio Report, Best Video Documentary, Multimedia Journalism, Best News Video and Best News Reporting.
“If you are able to produce outstanding and creative reports, it will attract the judges and it will be hard for them not to look at it.
“So, create your best reports and stories so that you can win the awards. I hope to see that Sarawakians will win the national awards,” said Chamil.
Also present were Suara Sarawak and New Sarawak Tribune Chief Executive Officer Dr Jeniri Amir, TVS Acting Chief Executive Officer Rizal Zulkipli as well as about 100 participants comprising reporters, editors, and sub-editors from Suara Sarawak, New Sarawak Tribune and TVS.
