Lyndsay Nyawira stars in Radio Africa awards

A day after crossing the 4 million mark in unique users a month on the Star website, the converged newsroom at Radio Africa got together to celebrate the best of the editorial team.

Lyndsay Nyawira won the Editorial Person of the Quarter award, emerging as the overall winner from 12 categories thanks to her frequent and fascinating stories. It was the third awarding ceremony this year, introduced to reward excellence and motivate staff.

Group CEO Patrick Quarcoo congratulated the winners and thanked the editorial team for helping the Star regain its shine. 

"I'm excited on two levels. The Star is back to what it used to be. And we are breaking news first and fast," he said.

Director of convergence William Pike said the Star was punching above its weight, considering it did not have TV content like Nation (NTV) and Standard (KTN). "Everybody here has a story on Star or has been involved in one, so it's a collective achievement," he said.

Head of content Paul Ilado noted that the awards came in the wake of the first six months of a truly integrated newsroom since the company launched convergence. "If we can do 4 million on our website, we can probably do 5," he said.

Digital editor Oliver Mathenge handed out certificates to the winners as well as notebooks branded 'Radio Africa'. He was assisted by radio news editor Susan Kiprono.

Overall winner Nyawira was applauded as a beacon of hard work in the newsroom. "You take assignments without complaint and go the extra mile to deliver them. Your turnaround time is fast and your content has made waves across the digital and print platforms. You are the complete journalist," her citation read.

She also won the best correspondent award. Hillary Bett was a repeat winner as Designer of the Quarter, while the rest were first-timers: Lewis Nyaundi (Reporter), Antony Gitonga (Business), Daisy Njiru (Digital), Victor Imboto (Photojournalist), James Mbaka (Political), Charity Chigulu (Radio), Elizabeth Ngigi (Sasa), Meshack Kisenge (Sports), Francis Orieny (Subeditor) and Esther Mbugua (Features).