Norman Grindley/ Staff Photographer
Patricia WatsonThe Gleaner Company swept the print category of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Caribbean Media awards for excellence in health journalism in Barbados, on Friday night.
The Sunday Gleaner's Patricia Watson collected five of the six awards, including Most Outstanding Journalist writing about health issues.
Miss Watson's other awards include Best Communication Mass Media Campaign in Health, and Best Feature Article/Series. She also took the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) award for the HIV/AIDS series, titled "Breaking the Silence," dispelling the myth about HIV/AIDS. The story which won in that category was HIV/AIDS and Poverty.
She copped the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) award, for stories dealing with gender and HIV/AIDS. The stories which won that award, were The realities of commercial sex work in Jamaica, and Working against time - the situation of adolescent girls in marginalised communities.
All the stories fall under the Breaking the Silence, series, and are being published by The Sunday Gleaner and Outlook, the Sunday Gleaner magazine.
The sixth award for Best Health Page was won by Eulalee Thompson, for her series Profiles in Medicine.
Miss Watson, who returned to Jamaica yesterday with her five awards, said, "I am a bit overwhelmed. I didn't expect to take home all five awards, but, I'm happy. Very happy."
She said she was humbled to have been chosen ahead of other journalists and cautioned that there was still more work to be done.
"There is so much more to be done in terms of the media's treatment of persons living with HIV/AIDS. There is work to be done to help to lessen the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease. I'm doing my part and inviting other journalists to join in the fight," she said.
It was the first time in the 10-year history of the awards ceremony, that one journalist won five awards. The function was held at the Grand Barbados Beach resort in that island on the weekend.
