Two business writers were yesterday awarded with cash prizes for promoting awareness on the country’s economic affairs.Dias Nyesiga, formerly of The New Times and Ivan R. Mugisha of The New Times walked away with Rwf2m and Rwf1m, respectively, after scrutiny of the stories they, and other various business journalists had written during the course of last year.They were recognised during a Monetary Policy and Financial Stability meet in Kigali.“The competition was quite stiff. Some reporters had catchy titles to their submitted stories but when it came to the content there was much to demand for,” said Thomas Kigabo, chief economist at the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR).Mugisha was recognised for his story Rwanda: Moving Towards a Cashless Economy, published in August last year. Promoting awarenessBNR, in collaboration with the Media High Council (MHC) introduced the awards that would see journalists and media outlets that have excelled in economic reporting and research rewarded for promoting awareness on the country’s economic affairs.The annual awards concern journalists who have been working with a media house as permanent staff, and recognised by the Media High Council, to submit articles on the implementation of monetary policy, organisation, supervision and regulation of foreign exchange market, and supervision and regulation of financial institutions notably banks, micro-finance institutions, insurance companies, social security institutions, collective placement and regulation and modernisation of payment systems.The articles should also have been published online or in print between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year, in this case 2012.“It came as a surprise. I didn’t know I would be among the winners. I thank my editors, colleagues and The New Times for all the support,” said an ecstatic Mugisha.
