Uganda National Journalism Awards 2017 open for entries

African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) with pleasure announces the call for entries and nominations to the Uganda National Journalism Awards 2017.

The Uganda National Journalism Awards are presented annually to recognise and promote reporting that informs and empowers the public, increases the voices and spaces for important information, and holds the powerful to account. Launched four years ago, the awards represent a pinnacle of achievement for Ugandan journalists, many of whom work tirelessly to attain journalistic excellence, often in the face of enormous financial and political pressure.

“The awards have matured significantly since their inception. This is evidenced through the rising quality of submissions, the growing number of entries, and a more streamlined and rigorous judging process,” says ACME Executive Director Peter G. Mwesige.

“Uganda National Journalism Awards winners are setting the standard for good journalism in the country and are being recognised for their work in Africa and beyond,” he adds.

Organised with support from the Democratic Governance Facility, the 2017 awards are open to all professional journalists working in print, television, radio and online news platforms in Uganda for stories published or broadcast between 1 January and 31 December 2016. The objectives are to:

• increase the quantity and quality of public affairs reporting and investigative journalism;
• promote accurate, knowledgeable and enterprising investigative reporting in all media;
• advance innovation in storytelling and news presentation;
• motivate aspiring and young journalists to attain an uphold standards of excellence in their profession; and
• increase the diversity of voices in media coverage and spaces within which journalists operate.

Awards categories

The Uganda National Journalism Awards 2017 will be given to the best reporting in 20 categories, namely:

Arts and culture	Agriculture
Editorial cartooning	Business, finance and economics
Data journalism	Education
Energy, oil, gas and mining	Environment
Explanatory reporting	Feature writing
Investigative reporting	Justice, law and order
Health	Local reporting
Multimedia storytelling	National news reporting (Print)
National news reporting (broadcast)	Photojournalism
Political reporting	Sports

 

The judging process

An independent expert panel of 16 members will select winning entries based on accuracy, initiative, originality, clarity of interpretation, storytelling ability, public benefit, audience engagement, innovation, and writing and creative flair.

The prize

Both the winner and first runner-up in each category will receive a substantial cash prize. Their work will be celebrated at a grand gala to be held in Kampala in April 2017. Additionally, winning entries will be published online and in a booklet to be distributed by ACME.

How to participate

All submissions must have been published or broadcast in a Ugandan media outlet or a regional outlet with a substantial Ugandan audience during the 2016 calendar year. Web-based news organisations that follow a strict code of journalistic ethics and publish original reporting on a regular basis may also submit entries.

To submit an entry for the awards, visit the Entry Rules and Submission Guidelines page on the ACME website.

Key dates for the Uganda National Journalism Awards 2017

• Entries open: 3 November 2016
• Entries close: 15 January 2017
• Judging process: 20 January – 28 February 2017
• Awards gala: April 2017

Further information

For more information about the Uganda National Journalism Awards 2017 write to awards@acme-ug.org.