Sampson Nanton

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Sampson Nanton staff photo

Sampson Nanton interviews former Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Basdeo Panday in 1997

Sampson Nanton with awards for 2010 documentary "Haiti In Ruins"

SAMPSON NANTON on assignment in Haiti following January 2010 earthqauke

Sampson Nanton and former President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,Arthur NR Robinson

Sampson Nanton on assignment in Haiti following January 2010 earthquake

SAMPSON NANTON on assignment at Fifth Summit of the Americas

Sampson Nanton (born February 22, 1977), is an award-winning journalist and television news presenter in Trinidad and Tobago. He is currently the Deputy Head of News and Co-Anchor at CNC3 Television.

[edit] Career history

Nanton has 15 years experience in print and broadcast journalism. He began his career in journalism in 1996 as a business reporter with the Daily Newsday in Trinidad and relocated to Tobago to serve as head of operations at the Daily Newsday's Tobago Bureau in July 2001. For seven years he reported in the fields of politics, health and education while at the Newsday. In April 2003 Nanton joined Caribbean Communications Network TV6 in Trinidad as a senior reporter. He left CCN TV6 in August 2005 to become a founding member of Cable News Channel 3. He served as Assignment Editor with the station until his resignation in September 2006 following leaked sexual images. In February 2007 he rejoined Cable News Channel 3 as a Producer of The Early Morning Show before moving on to the position of Senior News Producer. In November 2010, Nanton was appointed Deputy Head of News of CNC3. He is also a News Presenter on the station's 7pm newscast.

[edit] Career highlights

Nanton has served as a panelist on media affairs on several occasions and has participated in dozens of seminars on journalism across the Caribbean and the United States, with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, the Caribbean Media Corporation and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
He has worked as a freelance reporter for the Starbroek News of Guyana, the Tobago News, the Trinidad Express, the Economic Times Magazine for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Trinidad and Tobago Airports Authority Yearbook, the Point Magazine, and the Caribbean Trakker magazine.
Nanton was a columnist focusing on youth affairs with the Tobago News between 2001 and 2003.
He has covered news stories across the Caribbean, in Great Britain, in West Africa and in the United States. Stories covered included the historic visit of US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as 34 hemispheric leaders to the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009, a State Banquet for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh, the historic visit to Trinidad and Tobago by Nelson Mandela in 2004, the state visit of Prince Charles of Wales and his wife Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall in 2008, the state visit of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain in 2009, the state visit of Cuban President Raul Castro in 2011, the fall of US billionaire Sir Allen Stanford in Antigua in February 2009 and interviews and conferences involving former and current United Nations Secretaries General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki Moon, US Attorney General Eric Holder, former US Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, Australian President Kevin Rudd, Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, former wife of Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, World Cricket Record Holder Brian Lara, entertainers Rihanna, Kanye West and John Legend and actress Gabrielle Union.
In November 2009, he anchored the arrival of Queen's Elizabeth II to Trinidad and Tobago and the opening of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Port-of-Spain.
In January 2010, Nanton traveled to Haiti for five days to report on a 7.0 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and claimed 230,000 lives. He returned to Haiti in February 2010 for six days, for follow-up coverage on the one-month mensiversary of the earthquake. Nanton also reported on the devastation of Grenada following Hurricane Ivan in 2004, on the aftermath of 9/11 in New York City in December 2001 and on the Gambian culture and traditions in 2000, including interviews with descendants of famed African slave, Kunta Kinte. He also covered the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 2001 and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2009.
He has covered ten general, local and assembly elections in Trinidad and Tobago and the swearing-in ceremonies for Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chief Secretaries.
Nanton was a Trinidad and Tobago Youth Ambassador to The Gambia in 2000 and was granted Honorary Citizenship to, and the Certificate of Futampaf (Boukout) of the West African country, following the Jola rite of passage. He also served as a Trinidad and Tobago Youth Ambassador to St Kitts and Nevis in 2002 and was the feature speaker at the UNESCO Caribbean Youth Gathering for Peace.
Nanton hosted the second and third annual Tobago House of Assembly Youth Excellence Awards in 2004 and 2005 respectively and has served as Public Relations Officer of both the Tobago Youth Council and the National Youth Council of Trinidad and Tobago.
On May 25, 1999 Nanton and a news photographer were arrested while covering a protest for the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, one day before the Miss Universe Pageant being held in Trinidad and Tobago. He was charged with police obstruction and resisting arrest but won the matters in court. The arrest and subsequent court matters were documented by international media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists, in its 2000 compilation of attacks on the media. He won all charges in the Magistrate's Court.

[edit] Awards

Hilton General Manager's Award for Excellence in Journalism - 2010 - Best Television News Story/Feature, Social & Community Development, "Haiti in Ruins"
Camsel/MATT Lumen Award - Best Television Feature, "Haiti in Ruins" - 2009/2010
Camsel/MATT Lumen Award - Best Supporting Video, "Haiti in Ruins" - 2009/2010
Hilton General Manager's Award for Excellence in Journalism - 2009 - Best Television News Story/Feature, Environment, "Turtles of Grande Reviere"
Journalist of the Year, CNC3 - 2009
Journalist of the Year, CNC3 - 2005

[edit] Other

He has served three terms on the executive board of the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago.
In 2000 he was the chairman of the Media Committee for the National Youth Development Awards hosted by the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.
He was the Founding President of the Roytec Students Guild (1999), a Founding Member of the current Trinidad Youth Council (2000) and a former Public Relations Officer of the Tobago Youth Council (2001–2003).

[edit] Gallery

Sampson Nanton at Fifth Summit of the Americas
Sampson Nanton speaks to MSNBC in New York
Sampson Nanton receives the award for Journalist of the Year 2009
Sampson Nanton at Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain
Sampson Nanton awarded for work in Haiti 2010
Sampson Nanton awarded Journalist of the Year 2005
SAMPSON NANTON in Haiti following January 2010 earthquake
Sampson Nanton interviews former Trade and Industry Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Mervyn Assam in 1998
Sampson Nanton is initiated in Jola Tribe in The Gambia, West Africa in 2000
Sampson Nanton on assignment in Grenada following Hurricane Ivan in 2004
Sampson Nanton on assignment in Port-of-Spain