By Benjamin S. Conteh
The former editor of the Times-SL Newspaper who is currently serving as the Managing Editor of Voice of Salone Newspaper, David Johnson, has bagged the IMC Media Excellence award on Friday 23rd April,2021 for winning the best coverage on Disability. David Johnson is a brilliant writer who is very passionate about disability issues and has done many research papers on disability. During his days at Fourah Bay College(FBC), he was regarded as the best student who wrote a research paper on the challenges faced by disabled people in Sierra Leone Socio-Economic sphere and was also applauded by the Disability Commission Executive Secretary, Saa Lamin Kortequee, for being the best student that broke record in FBC.
David Johnson had also been commended as the best researcher by Disability Action Group(DAAG) at the time he did a research paper on the topic: the Barrier faced by Disabled people in the Socio-Economic sphere and role of the Disability Commission in championing the course of Disabled in Sierra Leone. In the field of Journalism, he has scoop several accolades prominent among them is him becoming the best editor in 2020, an accolade given to him by the Chief reviewer of Guild of Editors Sierra Leone, Mr. John Koroma, and his darling Voice of Salone Newspaper was also regarded as the best Newspaper in 2020 in terms of upholding media ethics and practice.
Speaking after receiving the award, the CEO of Voice of Salone Newspaper, David Johnson, started by thanking God Almighty for giving him the wisdom which catapulted him to win the best coverage on Disability and thanked the Publisher of Times-SL, Mr. Sallieu Tejan Jalloh, for creating the platform to receiving such an accolade. He, however, dedicated the award to the management and staff of Times-SL Newspaper and his darling Voice of Salone Newspaper. He said the award is a demonstration that hardwork pays and called on colleagues journalists to be steadfast in their work not only for the winning of award but for promoting excellence in our profession.
“When you sit down to write or broadcast don’t focus on winning an award but your focus should be on performing a national duty diligently and play your part in promoting ethical and professional practice”, the CEO of Voice of Salone affirmed.
