Nation Media Group's Pauline Ongaji is this year's winner of the prestigious Global Energy Prize 2023 (Energy of Words international media competition) for what the judges described as a profoundly eye-opening, compelling and incredibly interwoven feature she wrote entitled 'The Kenyan women making their mark in renewable energy '.
Pauline beat 262 entrants from Russia and 23 other countries who submitted their work to the global competition earlier this year.
Announcing the winners, the Global Energy Association, an international organisation established to promote and support innovation in the field of energy and foster international cooperation, highlighted that Pauline Ongaji (Daily Nation , Kenya) was the winner in the 'Best foreign energy entry' category. Shirley Acosta Licero, Mónica Vargas León, IPSE (Colombia) was runner-up and Amit Baijnath Garg, The Desert Trail (India) was third.
The winners of the Energy of Words international media competition were announced at a ceremony held as part of the business programme of Russian Energy Week (REW), an international forum held annually in Moscow.
“The winners were selected by a judge panel featuring heads of major TV channels, business publications and news agencies. A special diploma in energy will also be awarded to the winners for promoting scientific achievements of Global Energy Prize laureate and other energy scientists,” the Association announced during the award ceremony took place with the participation of Sergey Brilev, President of the Global Energy Association.
Speaking to the Nation, an elated Pauline said she was grateful to NMG's Saturday Magazine editor, Phyllis Nyambura, whose guidance was instrumental in seeing the feature through from conception, as well as her best friend, South African science journalist Melody Chironda, who drew her attention to the global competition and encouraged her to submit the story.
“I thank God almighty for seeing to it that I win such as high profile award, my family members who have stood by me through thick and thin, Phyllis for being my guiding light and the Berlin energy transition dialogue for an opportunity to participate in their conference in Germany in May this year where I discovered that very few women were participating, which is how the idea to feature women in renewable energy came to me,” she said.
“This award is an accelerator to cover more stories on energy as Kenya and the world at large looks forward to transition into green energy.”
“When we worked on this feature with Pauline, the big challenge was making renewable energy a very relatable lifestyle topic because energy is something we all need in our everyday life," she said.
"I am so glad Pauline was able to bring it all out through the highs and lows of the women she highlighted, while at the same time enabling us to see what opportunities are there in renewable energy as the world grapples with the climate crisis.”
Congratulating Pauline, NMG’s Editor-In-Chief Joe Ageyo said that he was extremely proud.
“Hearty congratulations to Pauline. This is a clear testament to the immutable place of good journalism. It is an extremely proud moment for us here at NMG and one more demonstration of the strong pedigree of our journalism. I am confident that this will encourage Pauline to continue telling the authentic story of Africa,” he told the Nation.
“Hearty congratulations to Pauline for the global recognition. She has made us proud. This award is an affirmation of Pauline’s unwavering determination to excel as a science writer, which has led her to write a thesis on climate change and adaptation for her degree course," she said.
Pauline is now looking forward to covering what is the world’s biggest climate meeting (COP28) from November this year.
“As the world looks forward to converge in Dubai for COP28 less than two months from now, I hope to have a chance to cover this climate event and focus especially on renewable technologies and be the voice that will fan the fire of African innovators in the space so that they are not left behind in this transition journey,” she said.
