The kids have spoken

The winners for the Best Children's Drama was Thetha Msawawa produced by Fuzebox Productions, News and Current Affairs was won by Real Deal by SABC, best Edutainment was Scamto Groundbreakers by Lovelife and the UNICEF Best African Program went to Christian Savage produced by Tent Production.

The awards were part of the first Children's Broadcasting Festival (CBF), an event run parallel to Sithengi 2002. CBFA, Sithengi, UNICEF, the Department of Communications, SABC Education, Goethe Institute and Prix Jeunesse International hosted CBF. The programmes were shown to children and youth during the first two days of the Festival so they could vote for the programmes they gave the thumbs up.

At a media conference after the awards Christopher Carter, one of the children who took part in the selection of the various winning programmes commented, "It was a difficult choice to make as the groups we were in where made up of children who all had different ideas. But the winning programmes put children first and that appealed to most of us.

Firdoze Bulbulia, Chairperson of CBFA commented, "CBFA has made significant inroads into the Broadcasting industry, specifically focusing on children and the youth. Our journey began at the First World Summit on Children and Television in Australia in 1995. To be part of this Awards ceremony seven years later, is very rewarding and an acknowledgement of the efforts of our labour of love."

Universal Children's' Day on 20 November 2002, World Television Day on 21 November 2002 and International Children's Day of Broadcasting on 8 December 2002, all mark important dates in children's diaries worldwide.