NAIROBI, Kenya, December 10- Members of the fourth estate particularly those slanting towards football coverage will have their moment in the sun on Tuesday evening during the first Kenyan Premier League (KPL) Media Awards in Nairobi.
The media awards were de-linked from the annual Footballer of the Year Awards held a fortnight ago by the league management body with 25 nominees short-list in five categories namely print, television, photographer, radio and new media.
Capital FM is among five nominees in the radio category alongside Milele, Radio Maisha, Radio Jambo and Ghetto Radio.
“This comes as a pleasant surprise to us and to be among five shortlisted stations among tens broadcasting is a huge honour for us. Whether we take home the award or not, the nomination is a challenge to us to cover the game more in future,” Eddy Kimani, Capital FM’s sportscaster said.
“The awards initiative is also an appreciation of the amount of work put in by the media in raising the profile of the local game in conjuction with KPL who have also played an important role in streamlining its management,” Kimani added.
Veterans Gilbert Wandera and Odindo Ayieko who pen for The Standard and Nation newspapers will duke it out with upcoming writers Isaac Swila (formerly Tijan Swiller Mulheim on his FaceBook profile) of the People, John Ashiundu (Nation) and Francis Wadegu (The Star) for the print media decoration.
KTN trio, Victor Ogalle, Nicholas Mudiba and Hassan Jumaa will contest the television journalist gong with K24’s Tony Kwalanda and Nicholas Githinji in The Standard Group versus Mediamax affair.
Two-time winner, Stafford Ondego (The Standard), Kenna Claude (People), James Magayi (The Star), Chris Omollo (Nation) and seasoned Mohammed Amin (Nation) are shortlisted for the snapper of the year award.
The gala ceremony will be held at Nairobi’s Panafric Hotel with Reelforge, the media monitoring firm being engaged by KPL to come up with the nomination list as opposed to past practice where they were voted alongside other recipients of the Footballer of the Year Awards.
