2012 Diageo Africa Business Reporting Award winners

The awards, now in its their ninth year, celebrates the journalists and media outlets who have delivered excellent business journalism from and about Africa. Entries this year were received from 27 countries, with two-thirds of entries published in the African media.

Winners from the ten categories came from all over the world. Oliver August, Africa editor of The Economist, was named Journalist of the Year and the Best Newcomer title was awarded to Drew Hinshaw, a freelance journalist writing for The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, among other titles.

The award for Media of the Year went to The Africa Report.

Winners

The 2012 winners of the Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards are:

• Best Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Feature:
  Is Google good for Africa? by Gemma Ware (The Africa Report, France)

• Best Finance Feature:
  Mobile Banking by Wanjohi Kabukuru (African Banker, Kenya)

• Best Infrastructure Feature:
  Releasing the Floodgates of Finance by Nicholas Norbrook (The Africa Report, France)

• Best Agribusiness/Environment Feature
  Ghana's Gold by Anas Aremeyaw Anas (Al Jazeera, Ghana)

• Best Tourism Feature:
  South African commercial shows Nigeria still in search of global brand identity By Ella-Marcelle Olamiju (National Mirror, Nigeria)

• Best Business News Story:
  South Sudan: land of opportunity, if you don't mind risk by Alexander Dziadosz (Reuters, UK)

• Best Business News Feature:
  Rising from the Ashes: Rwanda's Bold Vision for Development by Jonathan Rosen (World Politics Review, USA)

• Best Newcomer:
  Drew Hinshaw (The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic; USA)

• Media of the year
  The Africa Report (France)

• Journalist of the year
  Oliver August (The Economist, UK)

Winners received a bronze statue titled "News" by the sculptor Loni Kreuder and a cheque for £500.

Paul Walsh, chief executive of Diageo plc and chair of the judging panel said, "Africa is becoming increasingly important as a business and investment destination; this is rightly reflected in the media as it reports on the full spectrum of economic activity in Africa, providing fair and balanced coverage of the opportunities as well as the challenges.

As a leading pan-African business, Diageo believes that companies also have a responsibility to help create a more favourable business environment, and our support for these awards is just part of our commitment to building a long-term, sustainable business that benefits the communities and countries within which we operate."

The Keynote address was delivered by KY Amoako, director and founder of the African Centre for Economic Transformation, who commented, "These are promising times for Africa. Not since the post-independence movement have I seen such optimism for the continent. A stream of recent reports and articles tell the story of the continent's wave of democracy, growth of economies, and abundance of investment opportunities. Less is told about how the media has fueled this positive loop; about the intrepid journalists who risked their lives so the press may be free, about the entrepreneurial broadcasters who opened the phone lines so citizens may speak. Africa thanks you. And Africa still needs you, desperately."