CATEGORY:MEDIA AWARDS
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By Trevor Thwaites
Inside Grenada correspondent
Tuesady December 05,2006


ST.GEORGE’S, Grenada - Rawle Titus and Trevor Thwaites grabbed the major spoils in the inaugural Media Awards Ceremony of the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) held Sunday December 3 at the Grand View Inn Hotel in the South of the island.

Many persons, including Tourism Minister the Hon Brenda Hood, member of Parliament for the South the Hon Glynis Roberts and executives of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers, attended the function which reviewed the work of local journalists during the last year and seeks to raise journalists standards.

Titius, the Public Relations Officer with the National Disaster Management Agency (NaDMA), picked up three awards two in Radio and the other in the print section of the awards. His story entitled “Problems with Petro Caribe
Won him the Best Story, while his piece – “Prepare for the Hurricane” also won the Best Public Service Announcement. Titus, who holds an MA in Journalism Studies and is also a Freelance Reporter with ‘The Grenada Advocate’, also, produced the Best Feature Story – “I Don’t Want to Be a Gangster”.

Thwaites, who also possesses an MA in Journalism studies, grabbed three awards. The Senior Information Officer at the Government Information Service (GIS), who Freelances with Spice Isle Review Newspaper and is a news contributor to Inside Grenada (Grenadianconnection), excelled in both the print and television sections. “Young Grenadian Aims High” earned his the best Sports story, while FAO’s Support for Poultry Production, won the Best News Story in the Print section. His 30-minute programme – “Revival of Fisheries”, was the Best Television Feature.

Editor of Spice Isle Review, Bernard Jones; President of MWAG, Michael Bascombe - who Freelances with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) - and reporter with Community Channel 6, Amanda John, also performed admirably capturing two awards each. Jones was impressive in the Print Category, producing the Best Business Story – “Fox in the Hen House” and the Best Photo- “Burial at Sea”. Bascombe produced the Best Feature Documentary –“Fifty years of Roman Catholicism in Grenada” and Best Sports Story – Debate over Cricket World Cup in the Region”.


John produced the Best Television Documentary –“One year After Ivan” and the Best Tourism Story “Carriacou Regatta”.

The awards ceremony also paid tribute to and hailed the sterling contributions of four of the pioneers of the media: Mr. Ray Smith OBE, Mr Jerry Romain, Ms Hermione Charles and Mr Cyrus Morain. With over 50 years of radio engineering experience, Mr. Lew Smith has made a great contribution to the growth and development of the media in Grenada and the region. A former consultant with the BBC he worked with several countries in the Caribbean.

Romain has been hailed as one of the truly outstanding broadcasters in Grenada and the region. He earned his training with the BBC and was manger of the Windward Islands Broadcasting Service (WIBS) back in the 1970’s. He later became the Chief Information Officer during the reign of Eric Matthew Gairy’s Government. Like Romain, Charles was also trained with the BBC and is considered to be number-one lady broadcaster the country has ever seen. She is said to be the first female producer who was in charge of the News Room in the 1970’s.

Morain, who has become a nationalized Grenadian after failing in love with the Spice isle in the 1970’s, worked in the service for close to five decades. He was a driver for 47 years. The citation said that he was always punctual to take the staff to and from work in spite of the time and weather. It stated that Morain has provided yeoman service to WIBS, Radio Grenada, Radio Free Grenada and the Grenada Broadcasting Corporation (GBC). It said that he was truly committed to the job.

Executives of the Caribbean Association of Media Workers, President Dale Enoch, and Secretary Wesley Gibbons, who flew in for the special occasion, praised the work of the Grenada Media Workers Association in its pursuit of excellence. They applauded the work of the awardees and encouraged the media fraternity to always strive for high standards and quality in their work. The judging of the awards was executed by members of the ACM headed by Canute James, who is a senior lecturer at the University off the West Indies.