Update on the KINABALU SHELL PRESS AWARD 2010

KOTA KINABALU: The 19th Kinabalu Shell Press Award 2010 date has been changed to May 15 (Sunday), 2011.

The change was necessary since Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman would have to attend the Tilawah Al-Quran that is being graced by TYT Tun Juhar Mahiruddin on the same night the Press night was originally scheduled on May 13.

The venue, Pacific Sutera Harbour Resort and Spa as well as time remained the same. 

The Chief Minister has never missed our Press night for the pass eight years and he had no intention of missing this year's.

Meanwhile, Musa said the State Government had increased its annual grant for the Kinabalu Shell Press Award from RM40,000 to RM50,000 and this reflected the good tie between the State Government and media fraternity in Sabah.

Musa said the State Government was prepared to increase the annual grant for the Kinabalu Shell Press Award because it recognised the important role the media is playing in assisting to disseminate information to the masses on the government’s programmes and policies.

“The State Government appreciates what the media has been doing in Sabah that is to reach out to the public and provide accurate information particularly on the government development programmes.

“This really help a lot in ensuring that whatever we planned for the people can be implemented smoothly,” he said when receiving a courtesy call from the Kinabalu Shell Press Award organising committee led by Chairman, Datuk Joniston Bangkuai at Wisma Innoprise here on Tuesday (May 3). 

Bangkuai (left) receiving a replica cheque of the state government's contribution from  Musa (right) while  Lucy, Afeiza, Victor and the organising committee members

The RM50,000 grant for the 19^th Kinabalu Shell Press Award marks an increase of RM10,000 received from the State Government last year, which was also in keeping with the Chief Minister’s pledge to continue supporting Sabah’s most prestigious award for the media fraternity.

Bangkuai told Musa that the Kinabalu Shell Press Award had been receiving strong support from the State Government ever since its inception when in 1993 the then Chief Minister, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan approved a grant of RM12,000.

“Since then it has evolved to become the state’s premier journalism award,” he said, adding that the organising committee and media in the State were grateful of Musa’s continuous support to the Kinabalu Shell Press Award.

Bangkuai also briefed the Chief Minister the organising committee had received a record number of entries with 274 for 11 categories compared to 186 in the previous year.

The highest number before this was 214 for the 17^th edition of the Kinabalu Shell Press Award.

Bangkuai said the increased number of entries was partly due to the new category for Entertainment News Reporting introduced last year, which had been noted by journalists as well as the alignment of the eligible published works for judging with the Malaysia Press Institute (MPI) press award.

The organising committee had decided that from this year on entries eligible for judging should be those published during the whole year of the previous year that is beginning Jan 1 until Dec 31.

“By synchronising with the MPI we can look into sending entries from Sabah for the National Press Award,” he said.

“Importantly, the marked increase in entries is proof of the media’s acknowledgement of the awards,” he said.

Bangkuai who is also President of the Sabah Journalists Association (SJA) told Musa that the total prize monies for this year are RM105,500.

Apart from the State Government, Shell Malaysia was also contributing greatly to the successful organising of the event as it forks out the rest of the prize monies as well as other expenditure for the press award night, he said.

“The Sabah media is also very grateful to Shell Malaysia for its continuous support,” said Bangkuai.

The Kinabalu Shell Press Award is a tripartite partnership between Shell Malaysia, Sabah State Government and the SJA.

Also on hand were Shell Malaysia Corporate Affairs Manager for Sabah and Labuan, Datin Lucy Irene Yong, Press Secretary to the Chief Minister, Afeiza Khan, organising committee secretary, Victor Klanang and SJA committee members.

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