KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Johari Tun Abang Haji Openg has requested that a new category be added to this year’s Kenyalang Journalism Award (KJA) 2017 which is digital economy.
This was revealed by Federation of Sarawak Journalists Association (FSJA) president Andy Jong Wan Joon after paying a courtesy call to the Chief Minister at his office in Wisma Bapa Malaysia here on Wednesday.
“The Chief Minister will be attending the event as the guest of honour which will be held at Miri this November,” he said to reporters.
Meanwhile, FSJA past president Jacqueline Nur Atiqah said that as entries for other categories will be based on articles written in 2016, entries for the new category will be handled differently.
“For the digital economy category, we gave it a special case and will accept entries from February this year onward, from when he (Johari) became the Chief Minister.
“The category will be sponsored by the state government and is in line with the state’s vision to digitalise the economy,” she said.
She added that while other entries will have a deadline of up to July 15 this year, the deadline for the new category will be up to 31 August this year.
This year the FSJA is targeting more than 300 entries for this year; last year saw more than 200 entries.
Earlier on, a courtesy call was paid by FSJA together with sponsors Sarawak Energy, Shell, and Petronas.
Entry forms can be obtained from Kenyalang Journalism Award committee members or through Kuching Division Journalists Association (KDJA), Sibu Journalist Association (SJA), Institute of Rejang Journalists (IRJ) and Northern Sarawak Journalists Association (NSJA)’s.
Other categories include the Chief Minister’s Award, Journalism Award (for feature and news feature), News Reporting Award, Sports Reporting Award, Photography Journalism Award, Broadcast Journalism Award, Sustainability Journalism Award, Business & Economic Journalism Award, Photo Essay Award, and Community Well-Being and Rural Development Journalism Award.
Eligible participating entries must be published during the period of January 1 2016 to December 31 2016 (excluding entries for the digital economy category) and they must be submitted together with entry forms to The Secretariat, Kenyalang Journalism Awards 2016, c/o Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam Sarawak), Jalan Crookshank, 93000, Kuching, Sarawak.
The entries must be submitted before 4pm on or before July 15, 2017.
