A night for the craft: MISA's media awards honour the newsroom — five prizes for ZNBC, a haul for the Daily Mail

The newsroom dressed up. The MISA Zambia Platinum and Golden Media Awards gala was held on Friday 9 October at the Mika Convention Center in Lusaka, the annual evening on which the Media Institute of Southern Africa's Zambian chapter honours reporting across print, radio and television. The gala's place on the calendar, around the International Day of Democracy, is deliberate — the craft's celebration tied to the freedoms that make it possible. By the weekend's count, the night's biggest institutional winners were the two state-owned newsrooms.

ZNBC reported five of its journalists honoured: Mark Ziligone won the Golden Media Award for Television, Lucky Phiri was named Overall Best Male Journalist in School Health Reporting, and Sibeso Likezo, Nyambe Nalishebo and Martha Kanene completed the broadcaster's roll. The Zambia Daily Mail's account, by reporter Zondiwe Mbewe, said several journalists had bagged more than twenty awards for outstanding contributions to journalism, with the state newspaper's own reporters receiving multiple honours.

The awards are MISA Zambia's annual honours for journalism across print, radio and television; the parent institute, founded in 1992, works on freedom of expression and access to information across Southern Africa. The school-health reporting categories — among ZNBC's wins — sat alongside the flagship Golden awards on Friday. The gala closes a week in which journalists of every house spent their days documenting the argument over what may be said, and sung, in public; Friday night, at least, belonged to the craft.

Sources: ZNBC, “Five ZNBC Journalists Win Honours at MISA Media Awards” (11 Oct 2026); Zambia Daily Mail, “Zambia Daily Mail reporters received multiple awards at the 24th Platinum and Golden Media Awards” (11 Oct 2026).