Peter Murimi’s news feature Walk to Womanhood about the female circumcision rituals of the Kuria Tribe in Kenya won both the Arts & Culture Award as well as being judged the best overall journalistic story out of 465 entries from 30 countries around the Continent. The Awards were presented in Johannesburg on 19 June. Camerapix was Executive Producer of this compelling story which brought together the talents of 4 alumni of The Mohamed Amin Foundation’s Television Training Centre — Pete Murimi (Director), Mujo Musinde (Script & Narration), Philip Murungi (Editor) and Andrew Mungai (Camera).
This award going to a graduate of The Mohamed Amin Foundation brings full circle the dream of the Legendary photo-journalist, the late Mohamed “MO” Amin, who was a co-founder of the African Journalist Awards along with Global Media Alliance Managing Director, Edward Boateng of Ghana. Their goal, through these awards, was to encourage and promote young African journalists to tell the African story in order to reflect the African perspective.
To make these stories internationally acceptable, Mo realised that professional training was imperative. In Mo’s last public speech at State House, Nairobi in 1996, his appeal for this training was made public: “…we need the support and commitment of the international media and donor community to establishing a professional training centre. A place where young Africans can learn the skills and techniques that will enable them to continue in the tradition of courage and truth.” The Mohamed Amin Foundation was founded in memory of Mo Amin and remains dedicated to making this training a reality. The Foundation continues to struggle to raise funds in order to continue to deliver and expand its training, giving more opportunities to other young, talented African journalists.