Bahamas News
“Media in the Digital Age” – Bahamas Press Club Stages Awards Ceremony
#NASSAU, The Bahamas – March 4, 2020 — The Bahamas Press Club held its Fifth Annual Media Awards Ceremony themed: “Media in The Digital Age”, in Black Tie fashion at the British Colonial Hilton on Saturday, February 29, 2020.
The awards ceremony was held under the Patronage of Their Excellencies The Most Honourable Cornelius A. Smith, ON, Governor-General of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and Mrs. Clara Smith.
The evening attracted many who laid the foundation for a thriving media profession in the country. There was entertainment by Solo, lots of gifts and prizes.
Anthony Capron, President of The Bahamas Press Club 2014, underscored that “from the beginning of time and through the ages, the central message has not changed. What has changed, overtime, is the method by which that message is brought to the public.”
Communication has transitioned from rock paintings of zigzag lines, dots, and symbols during the Stone Age, to this current era of new communication technologies. Now, stories can be typed and transmitted; photographs taken and sent; newspapers read; radio listened to; and television watched from one medium alone: a smartphone, Capron described.
A Blue Ribbon Panel of judges spent record-breaking hours reviewing the works submitted by the media in various categories including hard news, sports, features, business, politics, investigative, columns, documentaries and social media. The work must have been printed or aired between November 2018 and August 16, 2019. The deadline for submission was August 17, 2019.
The Press Club selected for the Trail Blazer Award, the Rt Hon Hubert Alexander Ingraham, Former Prime Minister, for establishing the framework private broadcasting and Cable TV, throughout The Bahamas.
And, the top honour for the evening – The Etienne Dupuch Lifetime Achievement Award, the recipient was journalist and diplomat Ed Bethel who began his journalistic career in 1959 at the Nassau Tribune under the tutelage of Sir Etienne Dupuch and Sir Arthur Foulkes. He went on to join ZNS as a sports in 1963, and spend many years there, worked at JCN and other news agencies; a stint a Bahamas Information Services as its Executive Director and served as Consul General to New York and as High Commissioner to the Court of St. James’s, London, and Ambassador to the European Union. He is also a former President of The Bahamas Press Club.
SEE BELOW, THE LIST OF CATEGORIES AND WINNERS:
1 – Leon Turnquest Award for Sports Print Journalism –
WINNER – Simba French – Sports Reporter, The Nassau Guardian
2 – The Phil Smith Award for Outstanding Sports Broadcast Journalism
WINNER: Jay Phillipe, Sports Reporter, ZNS (Northern Station)
The Kenneth Nathaniel Francis Award for Newspaper Design and Composition – WINNER: Whiteley McKinney, Page Designer, The Tribune
4 – The P. Anthony White Columnist of the Year
WINNER: Rogan Smith – Columnist
5 – The Leslie Higgs Feature Writer of the Year
WINNER: Jeffarah Gibson – Features Writer, The Tribune
6 – The Cyril Stevenson Award for Outstanding Political Journalism
WINNER: Genea Noel-Ferguson – Editor, Eyewitness News
7 – Best Documentary, Television (Long: 30 minutes to 1 hour)
WINNER: Clint Watson – Editor/Producer, Eyewitness News
8 – Best Documentary, Television (Short: 5 minutes to 30 minutes)
WINNER: Kenton Hepburn – Digital Communications Officer, and Office of the Prime Minister.
9 – Best News Story, Broadcast
WINNER: Apryl Sands, Reporter, Eyewitness News
10 – Best News Story, Print
WINNER: Nico P Scavella, Reporter, The Tribune
11 – Best Business Story, Print or Broadcast
WINNER: Deandre Williamson, Reporter/Editor, Jones Communications Network
12 – Best Editing for Television News Story or Documentary
WINNER: Shamiko Gilbert, Eyewitness News
13 – Best Producer Award, Studio Live
WINNER: Genea Noel –Ferguson, Editor, Eyewitness News
14 – Best Producer Award, Live to Tape
WINNER: Shanaye Smith, Communications Officer, Office of the Prime Minister
15 – Website of the Year
WINNER: ZNS (Gina Bethel)
16 – Social Media Award
WINNER: Eyewitness News, Eyewitness News Facebook Page
17 – Best Cinematography (Documentary)
WINNER: Kenton Hepburn, Digital Communications Officer, Office of the Prime Minister
18 – Best Video Editing
WINNER: Keesha Bethell, ZNS
19 – Best Newscast
WINNER: ZNS Northern Station
20 – The Bahamas Press Club Student Media Award
WINNER: Anneisha Jones, University of the Bahamas Media Journalism School
21 – PAHO-WHO Excellence in Health Promotion Award
WINNER: Tosheena Robinson-Blair, Publicist & Freelance News Anchor
Usually hosted in November of each year, The Bahamas Press Club 2014’s 2019 Awards Ceremony was postponed by Hurricane Dorian. As preparations for the November 2020 ceremony begin, The Bahamas Press Club 2014 looks forward to a continued outward expression of resilience- from members of the media and, overall, The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – The FBI is investigating a woman’s ‘suspicious’ death on a Carnival Cruise ship in February. The unnamed woman and her husband boarded the Carnival Sunshine on February 27th, for a trip to the Bahamas, but she was dead before they arrived in the port in The Bahamas. 
The FBI said Carnival’s team had administered life saving measures when the woman was reported unresponsive, but they were unsuccessful. The body and the woman’s husband were released to the Bahamian authorities when the cruise arrived in the country.
In a statement shared with US media houses, Carnival Cruises claimed the death has been a natural one. The Nassau Guardian said a source told them the police findings had concurred with that assessment saying it was a “normal sudden death of a tourist who wasn’t feeling well.”
The FBI was waiting for the cruise and when it got back to South Carolina on March 4th, they immediately boarded and began to investigate the room based on ‘evidence of a crime.’ The FBI also searched the couple’s car.
No updates have been shared to contradict the currently established cause of death.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – “If you don’t like it, go to another beach!” Is what Aaron John, an Education Officer from The Bahamas National Trust jokingly tells our news team about sargassum blooms; his quip, motivated by the necessity of nature when pit against the notion that there is a real threat when the stinky seaweed makes its annual appearance.
John can admit, he says, that Sargassum isn’t very pretty but life isn’t all about aesthetics and in this instance that ugly patch serves a purpose.
“We love our sandy beaches, but in order to keep them we need Sargassum. When storms come, they wash away all the sand off the beach but sargassum acts as a mulch to protect the sand from water erosion. It doesn’t look good, it
doesn’t feel good but we need it.”
He said it also provides a habitat for small crustaceans, crabs, and insects that are all necessary to our ecosystem and islanders have found use for the weed.
“Historically, (in The Bahamas) we have been using sargassum as fertilizer, especially in the family Islands as far back as I know,” he said. “Birds don’t go on the beach unless there is Sargassum and what do they do? they feed – it’s beautiful.”
He encouraged residents to just leave it be if they came across it.
Sargassum isn’t harmful to humans, except for people with respiratory issues who may find the rotten egg smell triggers asthma. Despite this, it’s not advisable to walk through the weeds which may hide sharp rocks and bottles or vulnerable animals.
Experts say Sargassum blooms began to increase in size around 2011 and have continued to get bigger and bigger since. This year‘s bloom is around 5000 miles long and 300 miles wide and visible from space.
“I know it’s not a general outlook, but I would like to change the perspective on sargassum,” John said, pointing out The Bahamas National Trust is actively working to decrease alarm over the less worrisome events like sargassum as it raises the profile on the environmentally devastating.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos’ Bahamas Diaspora Office is moving closer and closer to opening day, following the Cabinet’s approval for the signing of a lease agreement.
The lease will be signed with FINCEN ltd in the Bahamas. Several weeks ago, Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration confirmed to our news team that the location had been found and was being finalized; now a lease is
approved at the Cabinet level.
The interest in the TCI from TC Bahamians was evident in the diaspora meetings held in early February. The two meetings held in Nassau and Grand Bahama were completely full and over-subscribed by hundreds.
It’s interest which the Government hopes will translate to real life population growth, bolstering the local population before the native population ‘goes extinct’.
The Opposition PDM is on the record with what it feels is a far more viable solution to a dwindling native population; seek out the country’s own citizens and bring them back home.
Cabinet did not state when the office will open.
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