Seven years after the assassination of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon in Kidal in northern Mali, RFI awarded the scholarship with their names to young Cameroonian journalist Charles Donatien Abossolo Oba and Burkinabe technician Romain Bouda.
In an unusual health situation, an unprecedented price reduction. It was by telephone in the program 7 billion neighbors, broadcast on Monday presented by Emmanuelle Bastide, that the names of the two winners of the seventh edition were announced. Unheard of since the creation in 2014 of the award tribute to the two RFI journalists who were murdered on November 2, 2013 in Kidal, and who reward a young radio journalist and a young reporting technician.
The two winners were selected at the end of three weeks of long-distance training provided by Académie France Médias Monde. To decide between the 20 professionals (10 technicians and 10 journalists) coming from 13 countries on the African continent selected from more than 300 candidates, journalists were asked to prepare a report on the topic of “dialogue and tolerance” while the technicians prepared a topic with the theme “small street jobs”.
Who are Charles Donatien Abossolo Oba and Romain Bouda?
Charles Donatien Abossolo Oba, 29, a journalist with Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV), won the “journalist” category. This holder of a professional degree in journalism from the Higher School of Information and Communication Sciences and Techniques (ESSTIC) in Yaoundé has excelled in the clarity of his work, his professionalism and the diversity and quality of the testimonies collected in the report 3m30sec , that he chose to focus on the issue of polygamy in Ebolowa (Southern Cameroon).
Report by Charles Donatien Abossolo Oba
Romain Bouda, meanwhile, won the award in the “Technician” section. Originally from Burkina Faso, this 32-year-old holder of a science and technology diploma in Information and Communication is currently a Burkina Faso Radio and Television Technician (RTB). The jury unanimously praised the great technical mastery of its “all sound”, which literally throws the listener into the atmosphere of a motorcycle workshop on a street in Ouagadagou.
Report by Romain Bouda
Both did not hide their feelings at the end of the phone surrounded by their loved ones. A victory hailed by the two Congolese winners of the previous edition, journalist Myriam Iragi Maroy and radio engineer Vital Mugisho. Like them, the winners of this seventh scholarship will undergo an intensive one-month training course in Paris in the first quarter of 2021. Immersion training at RFI and in partner institutions on the exchange: Sciences Po School of Journalism for Charles Donatien Abossolo Oba and training center of the National Audiovisual Institute (INA ) for Romain Bouda.
“A method of resilience that honors the memory of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon in a vivid way“
If this 2020 edition could not be carried out under the usual conditions, this scholarship will continue to be “a method of resilience that honors the memory of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon”, estimates Marie-Christine Saragosse, President of France Médias Verden, for which it was unthinkable to cancel despite the Covid-19 pandemic. “On the only idea that we could not do it, all performances were set in motion,” she told the microphone to Emmanuelle Bastide. “We are frustrated at not being physically present (on the continent, editor’s note), but there is also this pan-African dimension that compensates (…) We approached 25 countries at once”.
A unique openness to all French-speaking African countries that inspired young professionals. This seventh scholarship has registered more than 300 applications. With an important level of demands, which gave rise to unusually long and sometimes heated debates to choose from several high-quality reports in the category of journalists. Opportunity for columnist Jean-Baptiste Placca to remember that the report “is not a police report (…) A report should bring listeners to experience an event as if they were there. You transfer them to the field. “As Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon did with passion.
► To listen: Special program consisting of 7 billion neighbors devoted to the exchange Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon
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