The committee spearheading this year’s Gambia Press Union award announced that the ceremony will be held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“As you may be aware, the Gambia Press Union, GPU National Journalism Awards Committee has for the past five months been manoeuvring within a very tight space to plan for the National Journalism Awards 2020.

“With the prevailing situation of the COVID 19 pandemic, we are operating under a very challenging environment,” the five-member committee led by former minister of information Demba Ali Jawo said in a statement.

“As a result of the ongoing State of Public Emergency (SOPE) and the partial lockdown requiring social distancing, we have been compelled to hold most of our meetings and other activities

online, and you can imagine how challenging that it can be.”

But last year’s award ceremony attracted criticism from many Gambians including journalists and ordinary citizens over how the awards were given out.

Despite that, the committee said more applications have been filed this year compared to past years.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba