It was an historic event for media practitioners on the island as the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) held its first  ever media awards ceremony on Sunday at Grand View Inn in the south of the island.

President of the local body, Michael Bascombe called for higher standards to be displayed by all those involved in the profession. Bascombe said that while strides have been made in the last year, media workers in Grenada have a long way to go in terms of quality.
He made a plea for media managers to understand the importance of training initiatives for their employees, and the need to work closely with MWAG to improve the standard of the profession.

"While we demand of our members to put more time and effort to their own personal development, we also call on managers to put their own money where their mouth is, and budget more for the training of their staff", he said.

"It is only through such initiatives, that the respective media houses will maintain and improve on their relevancy and competitiveness. It is an investment that would improve on the bottom line in the long run," he added.

The MWAG President described the event as "a significant pause on a never ending journey in the pursuit of journalistic excellence". "What we are gathered here tonight for, is not just to honour those who have reached a particular standard in their work in the year under the review, but beginning the setting of a higher bar on excellence", he told the gathering.

"If we are serious about achieving and maintaining excellence in this demanding profession of ours, tonight is not the end of anything. It is the start of everything", he said. Bascombe noted that the award ceremony was being held at a time when MWAG is pushing forward on a number of fronts and that the award is also a commitment of the organisation to encourage this new drive for excellence seen in many quarters.

Journalists who received awards were Michael Bascombe, Rawle Titus, Trevor Thwaites, Raymond Roberts, Bernard Jones, Sherry-Ann Noel, Amanda John, Mike Alexis and Ruth Roberts. Three newspaper vendors who have been selling the island's newspapers on a weekly basis for many years were also recognised for their contribution.

The trio were Rosie Worme who is associated with the Grenada Today newspaper, as well as David Briggs and Chester The contributions made by veteran journalists who have paved the way for aspiring journalists were not forgotten.

The likes of Hermoine Charles, Raymond Smith, Jerry Romain and Cyrus Morain received special awards for their outstanding  contributions.