Stabroek News has won two regional awards at the 2008 PAHO/WHO Caribbean Media Awards for Excellence in Health Journalism.

Oluatoyin Alleyne

Senior Stabroek News journalists Oluatoyin Alleyne and Iana Seales have each won a Sagicor prize, for Best News Story and Best Feature/Documentary, respectively, at the annual awards. They were also judged national winners in the categories.

Alleyne was awarded for her report “Preventable cervical cancer silently taking lives,” while Seales won for her feature “Kidney diseases up, says doctor.” They will receive the awards at a regional awards ceremony in Barbados on November 7.

According to letters from PAHO, in bestowing the award the judges found that Alleyne’s report was a well written in-depth examination of cervical cancer.  Mean-while, Seales was found to have provided a thorough examination of the issues and the feature was described as well written, succinct and accurate.
They are both past winners.

Alleyne was honoured and pleased by the result. “The story that won me the award was one which really struck a nerve,” she said. “Not because it dealt with women but because it really drove home the fact that women were dying almost every day from something that is curable.”

She said it hurt to hear the stories of the women who suffered from the disease and who ultimately lost their lives because it was not detected early. In this vein, she hoped that after reading the story women went out and got pap smears done and are doing regular check ups. She added: “Women need to take better care of their bodies and while many are in the HIV and AIDS fight, which is equally important, enough attention is not being placed on diseases such as cervical cancer which as the story said is silently killing our women.”

Iana Seales

Seales said the regional recognition is gratifying, counting it as an important achievement in her years in health journalism. “I was compelled to write the piece after a dear friend, Angela Osborne, died after being diagnosed with renal failure,” she explained, adding that she aimed to raise awareness and affect the way people view kidney disease. “Today chronic diseases continue to flood the local health sector; kidney disease remains a critical area of concern.  I have to admit that the article benefited from the astute guidance of my editor, who continues to set health as a key area of coverage for the newspaper.”

It was also noted that the judges commended the improved standard of entries from Guyana, saying it demonstrated a passion for details backed by research.