BULAWAYO - There is no stopping accolades from being added to the bountiful and glittering Daily News trophy cabinet at the moment.
The country’s leading daily paper reaffirmed its reputation with yet another set of awards won by two of its senior correspondents — Pindai Dube and Sydney Saize — who swept the board during the 2013 ZimRights Human Rights Defenders gala in Bulawayo on Thursday.
Dube, our Bulawayo correspondent, was adjudged the country’s best human rights writer of the year, the second consecutive time the award has gone to the Daily News.
Former News Editor Farai Mutsaka scooped the same award in 2012.
Dube distinguished himself through articles that highlighted and raised serious human rights issues.
The winning articles were the plight of the San people who demanded to go back to the bush due to
government neglect and Gukurahundi victims’ children who failed to vote in the July 31 elections because they did not have identity cards.
Saize, the Manicaland Province correspondent, beat three other contestants to win the province’s best human rights defender award.
Two weeks ago senior assistant editor Guthrie Munyuki won the Netherlands Embassy and Misa Zimbabwe’s Media Diversity award.
“This award is for you Bulawayo. I am really humbled by this and would like to thank my colleagues and editors at the Daily News for having believed in me and my capabilities,” said Dube.
“At times you write without knowing there are people who monitor your work and treat it seriously.
“Glory be to God”.
Munyuki, who was on hand to witness the paper’s solid performance in the awards, said it was not surprising that journalists from the paper had been honoured, yet again.
“We count it joy here at the Daily News! There have never been any doubts about our journalists’ pedigree to write compelling stories that impact lives of our communities,” he said.
“Since 2012, a year after our re-launch, there has been many awards won by our dedicated journalists and this is surely reason for celebration”.
The two journalists were presented with shields, certificates and cash prizes.
The awards were held in commemoration of the International Human Rights Day which is celebrated on December 10 every year.
The UN General Assembly proclaimed December 10 as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention “of the peoples of the world” the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.
The theme for Human Rights Day 2013 is “20 years: Working for your Rights”.