Competition winners help change Sudan's editorial agenda

Three Sudanese journalists are looking forward to joining Thomson Foundation for a study tour in London. 

They’ll be heading to UK shores after winning a prestigious competition to showcase work being produced by trainees on the Sudan Media Capacity Building Project.

Dodi Gamaa from Sudan TV won the broadcast category for a story about a community cut off by a badly damaged and dangerous road, Nuha Mustafa Karar from National Radio filed her winning story about a children’s cancer ward and the print winner was Muzdalifa Mohamed Osman (pictured above) from Elrayalam, who highlighted the human cost of mines in Sudan’s war zones.

Nuha Mustafa Karar from National Radio filed her winning story about a children's cancer ward, pictured here with Dr Tibber 

The Media Capacity Building Project is one of the largest and most important projects supported by the British Embassy.

Dr Tibber congratulates winner Dodi Gamaa from Sudan TV who won in the broadcast category

The Thomson Foundation, in partnership with the British Council, has trained over 100 journalists in Sudan in the last two and a half years, in a project funded by the British Embassy, who has spent nearly a million pounds on the project.

Trainees, known as scholars, are given six weeks’ training in media skills, continuous professional development and English language classes over a year.

The Ambassador, Dr Peter Tibber, presented the prizes, of a trip to London, in a glittering ceremony at the official residence.

“The Media Capacity Building Project is one of the largest and most important projects supported by the British Embassy,” he said.

Broadcasting from the prestigious awards evening, showcasing work by trainees on the Sudan Media Capacity Building Project 

“Has all this training made a difference? Yes, it has. We have been monitoring the journalists’ awareness of the principles of international journalism and our evaluation shows this has significantly improved, and the editorial agenda has been subtly changing to include a broader range of stories, better presented, and tackling subjects important to the people not just [to] the politicians.”

Sudan Media Capacity Building 

A team of trainers from the Thomson Foundation has been partnering with the British Council to carry out an ambitious programme building media capacity in Sudan. It is funded through the British embassy in Khartoum.