{"id":49546,"date":"2023-12-18T17:52:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T17:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards"},"modified":"2023-12-18T18:22:17","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T18:22:17","slug":"former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards","title":{"rendered":"Former BBC Presenter Essau Williams Excuses Himself from GPU 2023 Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Former presenter of BBC Focus on Africa Essau Williams has decided not to serve as a panelist in the 2023 GPU Awards, a highly-placed source in the GPU informed this reporter<\/b><\/p>\n

Shortly after the 2022 GPU Awards, Mr. Williams came under a barrage of criticism from union members about his comments on the entries.<\/p>\n

He was sharply criticized by several members of the Gambia\u2019s umbrella press union for saying that the entries that made it to the finals were bereft of creativity, critical thinking, grammatical finesse, and literary prowess.<\/p>\n

This comment of his caused an uproar on social media with many GPU members, calling for his sidelining in this year\u2019s award as they felt that Mr. William had abused the privilege accorded to him by the GPU to serve on the panel of judges.<\/p>\n

Months before the 2024 awards, this reporter heard from a source close to the GPU that Essau Williams was to be sidelined in this year\u2019s award.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why he criticized the entries was because he was privileged to serve as a panelist. But watch out whether he would be honored to serve on the panel this year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some GPU members said they felt offended and berated by Mr. Williams for using the awards night to criticize the work of journalists, who presented their work to the panel, for judgment.<\/p>\n

A source in the inner circle of the GPU last evening told this reporter that Mr. Williams has decided to step aside as a judge this year to give a chance to others.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not protesting. He just decided that he should give a chance to others. Personalities like Nfamara Darboe, who served as a judge, is a qualified Gambian and he should be given a chance,\u201d the source said. Mr. Williams could not be reached for comments.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Former presenter of BBC Focus on Africa Essau Williams has decided not to serve as a panelist in the 2023 GPU Awards, a highly-placed source in the GPU informed this reporter Shortly after the 2022 GPU Awards, Mr. Williams came under a barrage of criticism from union members about his comments on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-49546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer BBC Presenter Essau Williams Excuses Himself from GPU 2023 Awards - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former presenter of BBC Focus on Africa Essau Williams has decided not to serve as a panelist in the 2023 GPU Awards, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former BBC Presenter Essau Williams Excuses Himself from GPU 2023 Awards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former presenter of BBC Focus on Africa Essau Williams has decided not to serve as a panelist in the 2023 GPU Awards, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-18T17:52:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-18T18:22:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/12\/sm_1702911090.019077.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Former BBC Presenter Essau Williams Excuses Himself from GPU 2023 Awards\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-18T17:52:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-18T18:22:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/12\/sm_1702911090.019077.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/former-bbc-presenter-essau-williams-excuses-himself-from-gpu-2023-awards\",\"name\":\"Former BBC Presenter Essau Williams Excuses Himself from GPU 2023 Awards - 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