Judy Kosgei wins the omson Foundation young journalist award

Judy Kosgei, a reporter from Citizen TV, Kenya, has been awarded the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist from the Developing World, UK Foreign Press Association (FPA) Award.

During the presentation of the award by Viscount Chandos, chairman of the Thomson Foundation, at the FPA event, Judy was joined by fellow finalists Neha Dixit and Toyosi Ogunseye who were invited onstage at the Park Lane Hotel in London last night.

Said Judy: I was totally shocked when I heard my name. I didn't expect to win because the competition was so strong. I thought the entries from the other two finalists had more global appeal.

Judy's success follows scrutiny of an initial entry list of more than 100 candidates from 40 countries.

Journalists aged 30 and under working in countries with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of less than $20,000 were eligible enter their work for scrutiny by the Thomson Foundation and then the FPA judges.

Judges of the award the first of its kind at the event were looking for stories that were revelatory, prompted public debate and led to positive change in society.

Courage and tenacity' Nigel Baker, chief executive of the Thomson Foundation said: Judy's submission, like all of the finalists, was of an extremely high standard and the judges were clearly impressed with her courage and tenacity.

I hope that this award will give extra momentum in her journalistic career and that she continues to bring interesting, challenging and impactful stories to the attention of the public in Kenya and, potentially, across the world.

Each entrant for the award had to submit a portfolio of three published pieces of work produced in the 12 months preceding the deadline for submissions. They could be in any format print, audio, video, multimedia or a combination of all four.

The subjects of Judy Kosgei's submissions featured the suffering of girls because of a shortage of sanitary towels; the illegal use of marijuana to motivate bulls used for fighting in western Kenya and a European retiree who has married a Kenyan warrior and lives in a mud hut.

With the first story, Judy discovered that up to two million young girls in public schools in rural Kenya, were unable to access to sanitary towels and together with cameramen Mauritius Oduor and John Wanyama she interviewed girls from remote villages to discover how this affected their lives.

Judy discovered that some women were missing school during their menstrual periods because they did not have adequate sanitary protection.

Some of her interviewees had never talked about their experiences before to friends and family, let alone a journalist.

Television campaign Touched by the women's candour, Citizen TV an online television service with other partners, started a campaign spearheaded by news anchors Janet Mbugua and Lulu Hassan and dubbed inua dada', which is Swahili for elevate a sister'.

The campaign was launched on 7 November by Kenyas first lady and 720,000 pads and 30,000 panties were distributed, meaning 10,000 girls would get a year's supply of sanitary towels.

It is hoped the campaign will result in a bill in parliament to make it possible for all girls to get sanitary protection for free.

In her acceptance speech, Judy dedicated the award to the girls who had shared their stories and there was a special mention for her cameraman who she said found going to a battlefield in Somalia easier than doing that story .

The other two finalists, Neha Dixit, a freelance from India and Toyosi Ogunseye, editor of the Punch newspaper in Nigeria, both received certificates.

LINK:	http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/news-and-features/2013/11/20/judy-kos...
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