MTN Uganda supports efforts to recognize and reward exceptional journalistic work

MTN Uganda supported the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) to recognize and reward excellent journalistic work as part of its efforts to promote good journalism.

ACME, a Kampala-based media development organisation that supports African journalists to achieve professional excellence, held the 7th edition of the Uganda National Journalism Awards at the Mestil Hotel in Kampala on 14 December 2022 with MTN Uganda as a Gold sponsor.

The telecom company provided Shs20million towards logistical support and an additional Shs16million towards prizes to the winners, 1st and 2nd Runners-up in four out of 20 categories – Business, Economy and Financial Reporting, Environmental Reporting, Sports Reporting and Features Reporting.

MTN Uganda Chief Marketing Officer, Somdev Sen, said they are extremely excited to be part of this year’s Uganda National Journalism Awards 2022.

“We strongly believe that recognizing and celebrating excellence and professionalism in the media will inspire journalists to work harder and boost the country’s journalistic standards and value to the nation,” said.

“Our expectation as a business is a vibrant media that can tell our Ugandan stories with accuracy, balance, objectivity, concise, current and with a high level of professionalism to ensure that the public makes informed decisions including products and services such as the ones we offer.”

The awards, launched in 2014, celebrate and promote exceptional, in-depth and enterprising journalism that informs public debate and holds power to account.

The awards are open to all journalists working for media outlets in Uganda or regional media houses with wide circulation and significant audience reach in the country.

“Recognition and reward are proven ways of motivating professionals to maintain good standards and to raise their performance,” says George Lugalambi, ACME executive director. “These awards, therefore, showcase the best of Ugandan journalism and inspire media platforms to continue striving to excel.”

Across the media industry, 196 journalists participated in the awards, submitting 283 entries for the competition. About 30 per cent of participating journalists were women and 40 per cent of entries were from journalists based outside Kampala.

A panel of 8 judges drawn from the media, academia and public communications adjudicated the entries, with Dr. Charlotte Kawesa Ntulume of the Department of Journalism and Communication at Makerere University as the chair.

Speaking during the ceremony, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa urged journalists to practice responsible journalism, especially in his era of social media.

“Let us all do responsible journalism. We have all been tortured by social media and I believe we all need to be responsible going forward,” he said, adding that the media too need to hold every one accountable for their actions.

Delivering a keynote address, Rachael Akidi Okwir, the BBC World Service head of East Africa, said it is a trying moment for journalists and journalism in general.

She said social media and other digital platforms have overtaken and infiltrated journalism with disinformation and misinformation being key threats to the industry.

“The future and existence of journalism will now depend on how the media practitioners capture the audience as and when information flows. As journalists, we must play the role of fact-checking so that in the future our audiences may be willing to pay for premium content,” she said.

She said the majority of the audiences are young people meaning that the media content needs to be worth their time, data and money.

The Uganda National Journalism Awards had 20 categories touching various sectors and themes including Business, Economy and Financial Reporting, Agriculture Reporting, Sports Reporting, Political Reporting, Investigative Reporting, Extractive Reporting, and Health Reporting among others.

The awards were open to all journalists, freelance or full-time and independent content creators who submitted their work – print, online and broadcast – to ACME for onward transmission to judges who comprised active or former journalists and journalism educators with several decades of experience.

Entries were judged based on the accuracy of the information, initiative and originality, clarity of interpretation, storytelling ability, public benefit or impact on society, audience engagement, innovation, and the journalist’s creative flair in a given format.

Each entry was read, watched or listened to carefully and thoroughly, and assessed with the scrutiny and rigour that are expected of the most anticipated journalism awards in the country.

The following is a full list of winners of the Uganda National Journalism Awards 2022.