The Bahamas Press Club held its Fifth Annual Media Awards Ceremony themed: “Media in The Digital Age”, in Black Tie fashion at the British Colonial Hilton on Saturday, February 29, 2020.
The awards ceremony was held under the Patronage of Their Excellencies The Most Honourable Cornelius A. Smith, ON, Governor-General of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and Mrs. Clara Smith.
The evening attracted many who laid the foundation for a thriving media profession in the country. There was entertainment by Solo, lots of gifts and prizes.
Anthony Capron, President of The Bahamas Press Club 2014, underscored that “from the beginning of time and through the ages, the central message has not changed. What has changed, overtime, is the method by which that message is brought to the public.”
Communication has transitioned from rock paintings of zigzag lines, dots, and symbols during the Stone Age, to this current era of new communication technologies. Now, stories can be typed and transmitted; photographs taken and sent; newspapers read; radio listened to; and television watched from one medium alone: a smartphone, Capron described.
A Blue Ribbon Panel of judges spent record-breaking hours reviewing the works submitted by the media in various categories including hard news, sports, features, business, politics, investigative, columns, documentaries and social media. The work must have been printed or aired between November 2018 and August 16, 2019. The deadline for submission was August 17, 2019.
The Press Club selected for the Trail Blazer Award, the Rt Hon Hubert Alexander Ingraham, Former Prime Minister, for establishing the framework private broadcasting and Cable TV, throughout The Bahamas.
And, the top honour for the evening – The Etienne Dupuch Lifetime Achievement Award, the recipient was journalist and diplomat Ed Bethel who began his journalistic career in 1959 at the Nassau Tribune under the tutelage of Sir Etienne Dupuch and Sir Arthur Foulkes. He went on to join ZNS as a sports in 1963, and spend many years there, worked at JCN and other news agencies; a stint a Bahamas Information Services as its Executive Director and served as Consul General to New York and as High Commissioner to the Court of St. James’s, London, and Ambassador to the European Union. He is also a former President of The Bahamas Press Club.
Usually hosted in November of each year, The Bahamas Press Club 2014’s 2019 Awards Ceremony was postponed by Hurricane Dorian. As preparations for the November 2020 ceremony begin, The Bahamas Press Club 2014 looks forward to a continued outward expression of resilience- from members of the media and, overall, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
PRESS CLUB VISION
To foster a culture of excellence and integrity, in a manner that would command the attention of all members of the profession as well as the public, so that exemplary, professional behavior becomes synonymous with The Bahamas Press Club 2014.
The Etienne Dupuch Lifetime Achievement Award: the highest honour presented at the Fifth Annual Bahamas Press Club Media Awards ceremony. Pictured from left to right: Kevin Harris, Director-General, Bahamas Information Services; Damian Blackburn, Chief Aliv Officer and Title Sponsor of the awards; Eileen Carron, editor and publisher, The Tribune; Ed Bethel; Anthony Capron, president, Bahamas Press Club; Lindsay Thompson, Secretary, Bahamas Press Club and Anthony Newbold, Immediate Past President, Bahamas Press Club.
(PHOTO/Vincent Vaughan, Bahamas Press Club)
