R. Danny Williams, chairman of Jamaica Broilers Group, presents the 2007 'Fair Play' top award in the print category to The Gleaner's Tyrone Reid. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
The Gleaner's Tyrone Reid yesterday walked away with the 2007 Jamaica Broilers Group 'Fair Play' awards top prize in the print category for his series on 'Health Sector Under the Microscope'.
For this, he received a trophy and a cash award of $150,000.
The stories, garnered through the Access to Information Act, explored hospitals and health centres, which were overcharging patients, among other issues in the health sector. This resulted in a probe of user fees charged in some hospitals. The Jamaica Broilers' seventh annual award was held at the Hilton Kingston hotel, New Kingston.
One judge said the stories were "well written, clearly organised and demonstrated good follow-up".
Another judge commended the strength of the series in terms of its focus on an area of "widespread public interest (because) a major section of the population is affected by the irregularities exposed in the feature".
Yet another judge said "constant scrutiny by the press is one way of keeping Government on its toes", adding that the series underscored the critical importance of investigative journalism.
The Gleaner's Paul H. Williams received a certificate of commendation for his weekly feature 'His Story'.
One judge said it was "a touching and tender (exposé) of the experience of men, sensitively done."
Nationwide-Digital AM received the top award in the electronic media for 'The Solutrea Affair'. It also received the second-place prize for the breaking news story 'Police Excess - The case against Inspector Dodrick Henry'.
The third-place award went to Halthea Hill-Latty of the Jamaica Information Service for her television feature 'Emergency-Changing the Culture of Road Usage in Jamaica'.
A total of 21 entries were submitted. Fourteen of these were print entries and seven from the electronic media.
Chief Judge, Alma Mock-Yen said she was gratified to note the improvement the print entries showed.
"Surprisingly, though, this year's radio and television entries were quantitatively fewer and quantitatively less impressive," she said.
