Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter

THE GLEANER Company grabbed the President's Award for Investigative Journalism at the Press Association of Jamaica's (PAJ) 65th Annual Journalism Awards on Friday night. The award ceremony was held at the ballroom of The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

The winning entry was 'Policemen back auto-theft ring' by the newspaper's Enterprise Team. The article, published in February, exposed the wrongdoing and injustice of policemen allegedly involved in a multimillion-dollar car-stealing ring, which led to the disappearance of two individuals.

"The team demonstrated courage in its intrepid reporting of corruption and possible murder within the ranks of the Jamaica Constabulary Force," were the judges' comments on the winning series of articles.

Glitzy awards ceremony

The 174-year-old newspaper, with headquarters at North Street in central Kingston, also took four other sectional prizes at the glitzy awards ceremony.

Norman Grindley, Shawn Bat-chelor, Las May and Ian Boyne were winners of the Errol Harvey Award for Human Interest Photography, Best Cover Design for Newspaper, the Livingston McLaren Award for Cartoons, and the Morris Cargill Award for Opinion Journalism, respectively.

No award was presented in the category of Journalist of the Year. Chief judge, Wyvolyn Gager, did not provide a specific reason for the exemption of this award; however, in reading the overview of the entries, Gager said better care must be taken by journalists when submitting entries.

"There were some poorly written entries. Some were even entered in the wrong category," said Gager.

Close to 170 entries were received for the various categories of the awards.

Independent media entity

The PAJ presented special awards to Owen James and Cliff Hughes, who have each achieved 10 years operating an independent media entity.

Hughes heads Nationwide News Network and James operates All-Media Services.

Other media houses received awards as follows:

Aston Rhoden Award for News Photography - Lionel Rookwood, Jamaica Observer.

Junior Dowie Award for Sports Photography - Brian Cummings, Jamaica Observer.

Errol Harvey Award for Human Interest Photography - Norman Grindley, The Gleaner.

Best Cover Design - Magazine - Milton Williams of Southcoast News.

Best Cover Design - Newspaper - Shawn Batchelor, The Gleaner.

Excellence in Online Journalism - Marie Berbick-Graham, Mass Com Magazine.

Livingston McLaren Award for Cartoons - Las May, The Gleaner.

Ken Dawson Award for Video-graphy - Ivan Shaw, Television Jamaica - Omar Green, CVM TV.

Best Human Interest Television Feature - Earl Moxam, Radio Jamaica.

Calton Alexander Award for Finance and Business - Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, Jamaica Observer.

Hugh Crosskill/Raymond Sharp Award for Sports - Kayon Raynor, Jamaica Observer.

Morris Cargill Award for Opinion Journalism - Ian Boyne, The Gleaner.

Maurice Garrison Award for Small Publications - Southcoast News.

Carl Wint Award for Feature Stories - Ingrid Brown, Jamaica Observer - Earl Moxam, Radio Jamaica.

Hector Bernard/Theodore Sealy Award for News - Ralston Hyman/Durant Pate, Sunday Herald.

Investigative Journalism - The Enterprise Desk, The Gleaner

LEFT: Owen James (left), CEO of All-Media Services Limited, receives an Outstanding Achievement award from Press Association of Jamaica president Byron Buckley during the national journalism awards at the Jamaica Pegasus on Friday.
RIGHT: From one Earl to another. Television Jamaica's reporter, Earl Moxam (left), receives a trophy for winning the Best Human Interest Television Feature at the Press Association of Jamaica's National Journalism Awards banquet at the Jamaica Pegasus on Friday. Earl Moore, president of Guardian Life Limited, the award sponsor, makes the presentation.