WESTERN BUREAU:

The Gleaner Company will next month receive a 2009 excellence award at the Pineapple Ball at the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall. As trailblazers in the newspaper business, The Gleaner is being recognised for propelling its 'Compendium of News' into the giant that is today's newspaper of choice.

In making the announcement, one Jamaica Committee director said, "when Joshua and Jacob DeCordova began publishing their morning broadsheet 175 years ago in 1834, they could not have projected that their small news and sales sheet would have survived through strife, war, natural disaster and continuous change to expand and publish not only a highly respected daily edition, The Gleaner, but an afternoon tabloid - The Star, weekly and fortnightly newspapers, overseas editions and, keeping pace with modernity, its website - Go-Jamaica."

In addition, the Award of Excellence includes the funding of a scholarship at the University of the West Indies, which will be known as The Gleaner Company Award of Excellence Scholarship.

The Gleaner Company's deputy managing director, Christopher Barnes, will accept the Jamaica Committee's Waterford crystal pineapple, symbolic of hospitality, peace and excellence at the 'must-attend, must-be-seen-at' event next Saturday.

Commenting on the award, Barnes said he was extremely honoured that the committee selected The Gleaner Company, the first media house to receive this prestigious tribute. "It's a testimonial to the brand's strength, credibility, integrity and commitment in keeping Jamaica informed," said the deputy managing director.

Now in its ninth year, the Pineapple Ball is arguably Jamaica's most prestigious event of the year and having topped its $4 million fund-raising mark in 2008, the committee hopes to equal that sum in 2009.

fund-raising gala

The Jamaica Committee, organisers of Pineapple Ball 2009, is a US-based not-for-profit corporation. The annual fund-raising gala features fine cuisine and liquors, big-name local entertainment, lively dancing and a juried silent auction (of art, craft, jewellery, resort stays and more). It is a heavily patronised western Jamaica event, supported both locally and internationally.

Major sponsors include the Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Rose Hall Developments, Half Moon Resort, the Rose Hall Resort & Spa a Hilton Resort, Iberostar Rose Hall, Braco Stables, Jamaica Broilers, Virgin Atlantic, Caribbean Producers, Baptist Hospital and Swiss Stores. Proceeds are distributed to a wide range of civic organisations and charities in Jamaica.