By Samantha Simon
Newsco Observer Media’s Carlena Knight, who doubles as a sports and news reporter, took home the Department of Youth Affairs (DYA) Young Media Practitioner Award on Saturday night.
The young journalist was amongst 18 awardees under the age of 35 who were honoured for their exemplary contributions to various fields such as media, education, sports, environment, entrepreneurship, archaeology, culture and performing arts by the Department of Youth Affairs.
Amongst the awardees were also the only female archaeologist on Island, Desley Gardner who has dedicated her efforts to work in heritage preservation as well as Aliane Challenger, the top grade six student and Pia Nichols, the top CSEC student for 2022.
Leslie-Ann Coulbourne was also awarded the Prime Minister’s EDP award, which she received along with her business partner and son Nazario.
An ecstatic Knight told our newsroom that the experience of being presented with the award was surreal, and she had yet to fully feel the weight of her accomplishment, but she was thankful that her work was being recognised not only by her peers, but by Antigua and Barbuda as a whole.
Knight has been a journalist for almost 10 years, having gotten her start with the Caribbean Times newspaper as a freelance sports reporter before eventually making her way to Observer, at which point she branched out into news reporting as well.
She is also the lone female co-host of the Good Morning Jojo sports show, but hopes to one day have her own show where she can give a platform to youth and female athletes to be heard.
She also plans to create a non-profit for at risk junior athletes to mentor them on their future career paths and the opportunities available to them, prepare them for media interviews and to market themselves from a young age so that they will have better chances to attain scholarships.
When asked what advice she could give to others who are interested in journalism, Knight said that writing is not just for story tellers or fiction, and that there are many opportunities that young people can take advantage of to get into journalism, especially at Newsco Observer or other media houses where they can gain experience and mentorship as she had.
She went on to say that even though it is a difficult job, persons who truly wish to enter the field should do so without fearing the opinions of others and simply work hard and strive to do their best.
Newsco Observer Media extends heartiest congratulations Carlena and we are indeed very proud of you!
(social media photo)
