When I entered the Christopher J Welles Prize contest, I wasn’t expecting to win
As I write this piece, I’m still very overwhelmed. And I have been, since September 14, 2022 when I first received the email announcing winners of the Welles Prize. The Prize is exclusive to the alumni of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University. I was a Fellow in the 2013-2014 academic year where I studied for a Master of Science degree in Journalism.
I had closed from the office that fateful evening and was driving home. While in traffic, bumper-to-bumper, and I was for more than eight minutes at a particular time. I took my phone and swiped it. Then I saw the email from the Deputy Director of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship, Amy Singer. When I was awarded the Fellowship in 2013, there wasn’t a Deputy Director position. There was a Director and a Coordinator. The Director then was the indefatigable Terri Thompson, and Gary Hill was the Coordinator. These two lovely people made my stay in New York City a paradise. They were always there when I needed help.
Back to the trail of my story. I saw the email from Amy Singer. The title was simply ‘Welles Prize.’ I whispered to myself smiling, “Oh. Another rejection letter.” I have got to a point in my life where I do not fear rejection of any kind anymore. I have grown and seen enough in life that has taught me that you lose some, and you win some.
But on my first stop, I decided to read the email. The first line read: “Dear Emmanuel,
I’m thrilled to write with the news that you have been selected as a winner of this year’s Christopher J. Welles Memorial Prize for your excellent reporting for Ghana Business News.”
I screamed and punched the ceiling of the car, as my heart raced with excitement. “This is a big deal,” I whispered to myself again.
Since I returned to Ghana from New York in 2014, I had decided not to enter any journalism award scheme in Ghana. The last time I had won an award in Ghana journalism award schemes was in 2012. But with time the awards systems in Ghana had deteriorated. At some point, someone was awarded one highest award for buying equipment for a hospital and not for journalism. There were a few others that didn’t make sense.
The first time I won an award for journalism was in 1994 – when I won the First Prize of the Media Features on Children Awards for my article on street children that I wrote for Step Magazine.
I’m thrilled to write with the news that you have been selected as a winner of this year’s Christopher J. Welles Memorial Prize for your excellent reporting for Ghana Business News.”
And then on one night in 2012 when I took an award for being the best anti-corruption reporter in Ghana, Ghana Business News was the biggest winner on average – myself and my then deputy editor, Edmund Smith-Asante won awards. Being a team of only four in the office at the time, it meant 50 per cent of the staff of Ghana Business News won awards in 2012.
Then in 2019 or so, I was advised to enter another award in Ghana on behalf of the collaborative work ‘West Africa Leaks’. ‘West Africa Leaks’ had won an award in the US that year. But it didn’t in Ghana.
I have decided to focus on doing stories and making time to train others who truly want to learn, so I don’t have the urge to enter for awards.
As a matter of fact, it has never crossed my mind to enter the Welles Prize, but this year for some unexplained reason or reasons I decided to. I had seen the call for the awards when it was announced, but didn’t take interest. But then on the final day of an extended deadline on July 15, 2022, I had read all the newsletters from Columbia University. Then I read the notice announcing that July 15 was the final day and interested Fellows should submit their entries.
I clicked on the link. Read the instructions, then downloaded links and started the process. The entry was done through Google Docs. When I was done, I just submitted and went about my business, because life must go on.
The Welles Prize is highly competitive, just like the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship. The Fellowship focuses on the crème de la crème of business journalism around the world with most recipients being primarily Americans, therefore making it a very tight race for journalists from other continents. At the time I was awarded the Fellowship in 2013, the Fellowship had been around for 38 years and there were more than 400 Fellows, but there were only seven from Africa!
The Welles Prize is highly competitive, just like the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship. The Fellowship focuses on the crème de la crème of business journalism around the world with most recipients being primarily Americans, therefore making it a very tight race for journalists from other continents.
It was therefore conceivable that I knew the Welles Prize was a stiff competition, but win or lose, I was happy to compete among the brightest and the best in global business journalism.
But then I made history. I won, together with my classmate, the inimitable Jeff Horwitz of the Wall Street Journal, and that was nice and cool. And coming on the heels of being selected as one of the 75 out of more than 400,000 alumni of the University of Ghana to be honoured during the University’s 75th Anniversary is gratifying.
I have seen and taken note of all the congratulatory messages and wishes. It gives me immense joy to know that there are so many people sharing in this win with me, who feel genuinely happy.
Considering what it takes for me to keep running Ghana Business News since 2008, with no advertising revenue, no grants, nor any kind of funding, except my dedication and commitment to journalism and the larger public good, all in the face of a hostile political system that has consistently shown its disdain for and criminalised free speech and journalism, in a country where there is a constitution guaranteeing free speech and a free media, where one could be arrested, detained and tortured for doing journalism, this award comes at a good time to light up my spirits and to affirm to me that the journalism I am doing is of the highest standard.
By Emmanuel K Dogbevi
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