The Daily Herald reporter Judy Fitzpatrick took top honours in the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Caribbean Populations Award in the print media for 2010.She was presented with the UNFPA's top 'Platinum Award' certificate during the awards ceremony at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel on Tuesday night.
The award was presented for the four part investigative series: Gambling with life; buying medication on the black market which was published in The Daily Herald in March.
Jamaica Gleaner placed second in the print category with a Gold Award and Trinidad Guardian third with a Silver Award.Close to 60 entries were received from journalists in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, Belize, Barbados, Suriname and St. Maarten.
The entries were judged by an international panel of judges: Chief Judge Director of the Caribbean Institute of Media Communication (CARIMAC) University of the West Indies, Mona campus Dr. Canute James; Director of the Center of Communication Studies at the University of Guyana Dr. Paloma Mohamed; veteran Caribbean journalist Tony Best, who now resides in New York and the Communication Adviser to UNFPA for Latin America and the Caribbean region.
Other journalists honoured were Belizean Jules Vasquez (Platinum television), Jamaican Carol Francis (Gold television), and Janelle Chanona (Silver television). Sheryl Johnson was the only winner in the radio category. She received a Silver Award. Judges felt no other radio entry met the criteria for awards.
The National Women's Commission of Belize, a non-government organisation, won a cash award for its work on gender equality, equity and women's empowerment in that country.
UNFPA partners in Trinidad and Tobago such as parliamentarians and representatives from the Government, diplomatic corps, business community, non-governmental organizations, academia, health service providers, community, religious leaders, and the media attended the ceremony.
