Bright future awaits winners of journalism contest
KHUTSO Maile, Chantal Morifi and Dimpho Maja were yesterday named as the winners of the Young Journalist and Young Photographer Scholarship and Intern Competition hosted by the Pretoria News and The Star. Maile and Morifi won bursaries to Boston Media House and Maja will spend this year studying photojournalism at the Market Photo Workshop (MPW).
At the handover of certificates, the editor of The Star, Kevin Ritchie, said Independent Media had a long association with Boston and MPW, with both producing excellent students.
“There is an ongoing struggle for access to funding for education and we have managed to help three outstanding and deserving media hopefuls achieve their dreams.”
The three were chosen from multiple entries, which included motivational letters and CVs. Ritchie said the year 2016, as the 40th anniversary of the 1976 riots, was a fitting time to offer the young people educational opportunities.
“It took the youth of Soweto to spark a change that would be felt 18 years later when we achieved democracy, and those 1976 uprisings demonstrated the power of photojournalism. The iconic photo of Hector Pieterson by Sam Nzima being carried up the road went all around the world and galvanised the international Struggle against apartheid,” he said.
As winners of the media studies bursaries, Maile and Morifi will be interning at The Star and Pretoria News during their studies at Boston.
The course requires that they do 100 hours of experiential learning on the job.
Lydia Banda, the director of Boston Media studies, said they would join 900 other students for the first year of a diploma in media studies in Sandton. Pretoria News editor Val Boje said Maile had chosen an exciting career. “We are delighted to be part of this innovative initiative.”
The power of photojournalism galvanised the Struggle