The Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has officially launched the Ashanti GJA Excellence Awards 2025, opening submissions for media practitioners operating within the region to showcase their best work.

The announcement was made in Kumasi on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, by the Regional GJA Chairman, Kofi Domfe, alongside the Chairman of the Awards Committee, Isaac Justice Bediako. 

Submissions for the awards open on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, and will cover works published or broadcast between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.

The competition is open to all media practitioners in the Ashanti Region; however, members of the Ashanti Regional GJA Executive, the Awards Committee, and the Awards Jury are ineligible to participate.

Mr Bediako stated that applicants may submit entries for a maximum of two award divisions, with no more than two entries per division. 

A single published or broadcast work, he indicated, cannot be entered into multiple categories, adding that applicants are required to submit clear, original copies of their published or broadcast work, alongside a recent passport-sized photograph.

He highlighted that all entries must be titled "Ashanti GJA Excellence Awards 2025" and emailed to ashantiGJAawards@gmail.com with the applicant's full name, media organisation, telephone number, and email address. 

The awards scheme is divided into two primary competitive divisions alongside special honours. 

Division One covers competitive categories such as Sports, Education, Investigative Journalism, Photojournalism, Arts and Entertainment, Business and Economy, Environment, Science and Climate Change, Health, Crime and Courts, Agriculture, and Community Impact Journalism. 

Division Two focuses on Best Feature, Best Columnist, and Best Documentary. The flagship title, Ashanti Regional Journalist of the Year, will be jointly determined and defined by the Awards Committee and Jury.

A notable addition to this year's scheme is a special award established in honour of veteran journalist Kofi Badu, the Chief of Staff to Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. 

The Kofi Badu Award aims to recognise retired media veterans while fostering a strong relationship between the media in the Ashanti Region and the Manhyia Palace.

To ensure transparency and high professional standards, a five-member Vetting Committee has been constituted to evaluate all submissions. 

The committee comprises Mr Sebastian Freku, Ashanti Regional Editor of The Chronicle Newspaper; Mr John Yeboah of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC); media practitioner, Ms Akua Asiedua; Dr Fortune Teller, a communication consultant and lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST); and Dr Atta Poku, a sports journalist, football administrator, and lecturer at Christian Service University.

"We want to assure the association members and all media practitioners in the Ashanti Region that we are going to do excellent work in this particular awards scheme," Mr Bediako stated during the launch.

Mr Bediako noted that the awards scheme reserves the right to withhold an award in any category where entries fail to meet the required standard of journalistic excellence.

Highlighting the broader role of journalism, Regional GJA Chairman, Kofi Domfe, appealed to corporate bodies for sponsorship, emphasising the need for verified reporting in an era dominated by artificial intelligence, misinformation, and disinformation.

​"Journalism is at the crossroads in this era of deepfakes, misinformation, disinformation, and the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence," Mr Domfe said, adding, "Critical verification, accuracy, fairness, and balanced reporting must remain at the heart of what we do... every community deserves the best of journalism."