Vincentian journalist Donn Bobb in winners’ row

Caribbean journalist, Donn Bobb, a senior radio producer at the United Nations radio, was recognized at the recent New York Festival’s 2007 Radio Programming and Promotion Awards which reward “The World’s Best Work” in radio programming and promotion.{{more}}

Roy Laishley, Officer-in-Charge at the United Nations’ News and Media Division, announced that Bobb, from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was awarded a silver medal in the Radio Broadcasting Awards competition (national/ international affairs) for one of his UN Radio programmes on the “Commemoration of the Bill Abolishing Transatlantic Slave Trade.”

The programme looked at the slave trade, the horrors of the Middle Passage, the struggles of British Parliamentarian William Wilberforce to end the practice, the uprisings in Haiti and the impact of slavery on the Caribbean region.

“Historians say ‘the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade claimed the lives of millions of Africans and shaped the complex history of Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas.’ And as one regional leader put it, ‘slavery touched the very core of our Caribbean societies,’” said Bobb.

Medals were awarded to media establishments in 13 countries at the Radio Broadcasting Awards Gala last Thursday at the Tribeca Rooftop in Manhattan, including media giants such as ABC News and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

“My heartiest congratulations to one of the finest journalists the Caribbean has produced,” reacted veteran Caribbean broadcaster Julian Rogers on the Association of Caribbean Media Workers listserve this week.

“From his native St. Vincent and the Grenadines where he stood up to the challenges of being a “small island” journalist, Bobb graduated to Radio Antilles to become a first class journalist and presenter. His drive for excellence pushed him to New York where he forged alliances with the Diaspora as well as the international community through UN Radio. For me, he remains a proud associate in the field and richly deserving of awards and rewards for his hard and diligent work,” he said.

Winning entries were selected by an international panel of broadcasting professionals for their production values, organization, presentation of information, creativity and use of the medium.

“I’m happy that the work of a Caribbean journalist operating in the traditional medium of radio has been recognized internationally,” Bobb told the Amsterdam News.

The New York Festivals oversees six international awards competitions: Television and Radio Advertising; Design, Print and Outdoor Advertising; Film and Video; Television Programming and Promotions; Radio Programming and Promotions; and now Interactive and Alternative Media.

From Bevan Springer
New York Amsterdam News