Young journalists from Côte d'Ivoire win Dupont-Verlon scholarship

Journalist Taby Badjo Marina Djava and radio technician Aman Baptiste Ado from Côte d'Ivoire are the winners of the 2018 Ghislaine Dupont-Claude Verlon scholarship. The scholarship is named after the two RFI journalists who were kidnapped and killed five years ago in Mali.

It has been five years after RFI journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were murdered on an assignment in northern Mali.

The Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon scholarship was created in 2014 by France Médias Monde, RFI's parent company.

After previous sessions in Mali, Madagascar, Benin and Senegal, this year's event was held in Côte d'Ivoire.

The winners of the 2018 scholarship were announced on Friday. They are Taby Badjo Marina Djava, a journalist and Aman Baptiste Ado, a radio technician.

The award ceremony was presided by RFI head Cécile Mégie, who was accompanied by Gilles Hubersonin, France's ambassador in Abidjan and Sidi Tiémoko Touré, Côte d'Ivoire's Minister of Communications and Media.

Apolline Verlon, Claude Verlon's daughter, also attended the event, along with other political and media personalities.

Djava and Ado's scholarships will take them to Paris to follow intensive training sessions in prestigious institutions like the Science Po school and the National Audiovisual Institute (INA).

The winners will also train at RFI's studios.