Mr Daniel Lutaaya, the Managing Director of News 24/7 publications was one of the most decorated journalists in the Uganda National Journalism Awards organized by the African Center for Media Excellence (ACME) held on Wednesday night at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.
Mr Lutaaya scoped awards as the overall winner in Health reporting as with his piece, “I can’t breathe, he also bagged another in Education Reporting with colleague Thomas Kitimbo of NBS in a combined effort for the story, “Busoga University operating underground, students under distress. Mr Lutaaya also got a certificate in the category of Arts.
The other winners include Investigative Journalist Solomon Sserwanja and Rahim Nwali for Public Accountability, Gilian Nantume of Daily Monitor for National News (Print), Ms Culton Scovia Nakamya for the Justice and Law section while Arnest Tumwesigye of New Vision won in the category of local reporting among others.
This year’s event was graced by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa as chief guest while Ms Racheal Akidi Okwir, the Head of East Africa Languages at the BBC Africa delivered a keynote speech on “Covering Africa in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.”
During the ceremony the Mr Tayebwa called for a good working environment for Journalists as he also challenged them to questions some of the statements made by political leaders.
“If the environment in which good journalism can thrive is bad, let’s join hands and fight the bad. Challenge us leaders so that we can give you a good environment where you can thrive,” Mr Tayebwa said.
The Deputy Speaker also pledged to contribute Shs20m for the next ACME Uganda Journalism Awards 2023.
“Technology has not only changed how we consume news content; it has also transformed the information ecosystem. It has democratised this space and dislodged traditional journalists from what was previously an exclusive role of agenda-setting” Ms Akidi said in her remarks.
The judges indicated that this year’s award had 283 entries but only 196 journalists were shortlisted for the final event. They also indicated that about 30 per cent of participating journalists were women, and 40 per cent of entries were from journalists based outside Kampala.
Mr George Lugalambi the ACME Executive Director said, “Recognition and reward are proven ways of motivating professionals to maintain good standards and to raise their performance,” “These awards showcase the best of Ugandan journalism and inspire media platforms to continue striving to excel.”.
The Awards of this year were shortlisted under the following categories and this include. Agriculture, Arts, Business, finance and economy, Education, Energy and Extractive industries, Environment, Features, Health, Investigative Reporting, Justice, law and Order, Land and Property, Local Reporting, National News (Broadcast), National News (Print), Photo and Video Journalism, Political Reporting, Public Accountability, Public works and infrastructure and Sports.
Different Journalists in these different categories were recognized according to the stories that were short listed in the different categories. The winners of the different awards included
Uganda National Journalism Awards was started by ACME since 2014 to celebrate and promote exceptional, in-d depth and enterprising journalism that informs public debate and holds the powerful to account. They 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.
