Ian Allen, Gleaner photographer, receives from Suzette Smellie-Tomlinson of Supreme Ventures Ltd., the Errol Harvey Award for Human Interest Photography. The occasion was the Press Association of Jamaica's 60th Anniversary Journalism Awards ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston on Thursday night. Supreme Ventures sponsored the award. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

The Gleaner on Thursday night walked away with five of the Press Association
of Jamaica`s (PAJ) 60th Anniver-sary National Journalism awards.

During the presentation ceremony at Talk of the Town Restaurant atop the
Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, Cliff Hughes, co-host of `Nationwide`,
the popular news and current affairs programme on Power 106 FM, was named
`Journalist of the Year 2003`.

The awards, in categories ranging from investigative journalism to
cartooning, were presented to journalists engaged in the profession for at
least a year.

Award winners from The Gleaner were: Lynford Simpson, who received the Morris
Cargill Award for Opinion Journalism; Ian Allen, the Errol Harvey Photography
Award for Human Interest; Rudolph Brown, the Aston Rhoden Award for News
Photography; Garwin Davis, the Carl Wint Award for Printed News Feature, and
Las May, the Livingston McLaren Award for cartoons.

Mr. Simpson was lauded for his articles which appear in the `First Reading` column on Mondays, including one entitled, `Patterson and his arrogant bunch` in which he was critical of the Prime Minister for his handling of the backlash against Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies`s admission to inappropriate government spending prior to October 2002 general election.

THIRD STATUE

Mr. Allen, a photographer for both The Gleaner and The Star, its sister paper, was rewarded for his snapshot, `Third Statue`, of a nude woman standing by the controversial `Emancipation Song` statue at Emancipation Park, New Kingston. The photograph was published in The Star.

Mr. Brown, The Gleaner`s chief photographer, received his award for a photograph of what was described as a `frantic effort in using human strength to get at the trapped victims` of a traffic accident on Mount Rosser main road, St. Catherine. The photograph, entitled `Untangled Bodies`, netted Mr. Brown his 11th PAJ award in his 14 years with The Gleaner.

Mr. Davis was rewarded for the feature, `Trevor Berbick, The Saga`, which chronicled the rise and fall of Jamaica`s former world boxing heavyweight champion.

Las May, the popular freelance cartoonist, was given an award for his body of work published in The Gleaner.

Mr. Hughes was recognised, along with his team from the `Impact` a current affairs television programme, with the Hector Bernard Award for Electronic News. `Impact` airs on CVM-TV.

Prior to the presentation of the awards, Senator Bruce Golding, the guest speaker, challenged the media to lead the process in helping Jamaicans to understand the issues and the crises facing the country.

'The politicians can`t do it. One side is going to be telling people we`re on the right track and the other side is going to be telling the people we are at the edge of the precipice,' he said.

Other award winners included: Andrea Downer of The Sunday Herald, who won the President`s Award for Investigative Reporting, and Jamaicans for Justice, the human rights lobby group, which won the special PAJ Award for Public Service.

Published December 06, 2003