The Uganda Population Secretariat with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announces the Media Awards 2011 for coverage of population and development issues.  These issues include Reproductive Health, Gender, Population growth, Migration, Urbanization, Human resource and employment.

Entries are invited from journalists in the print and electronic media to compete for these awards. The entries should have been aired or been published in Uganda between August 2010 and August 2011.

Guidelines for submissions

• Entries should be clearly marked with entrant’s name, media House, email address and phone number.
• Non-English entries should be accompanied with an English translation.
• Number of submitted entries per participant should not exceed five.
• Duration of submission should not exceed 5 minutes per item for electronic media entries.
• Electronic media submissions should be either on VCD, DVD or audio CD.
• Electronic media entries should include a short transcript.
• Print media submissions should clearly show name of publication and date when article was published.

There will be a special category for upcountry journalists.

The winners will receive their awards during the launching of the State of Uganda and World Population Reports 2011.

The deadline for submission of entries is September 2, 2011.

Entries clearly labeled “Media Awards 2011” can be posted or physically delivered to:

The Population Secretariat

Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

Statistics House, 2nd floor

9 Colville Street

P.O. Box 2666, Kampala

The Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Uganda (FCAU) has announced plans to run a photography competition for Ugandan photojournalists in 2012.

The winners, along with some of the Association members, will get a chance to showcase their work at a photo exhibition to be held in Kampala.

Michele Sibiloni, an AFP photojournalist who is organizing the competition, said, “There are many talented Ugandan photojournalists, and the exhibition will be a unique opportunity to promote our work together.”

The details of the competition will be posted on the FCAU website (www.fcau.org) in the coming weeks. The photography competition is part of a wider plan to increase interaction between the association and journalists working for Ugandan media.

This was agreed at the Association’s second Annual General Meeting, held in Kampala.

At the meeting Joshua Mmali, BBC and Malcolm Webb, Aljazeera were re-elected as co-chairs, to lead an elected board that runs the Association and organizes events. The Association was founded in May 2011 and has since grown to nearly 30 members.

“Our first year was a great success and the association is moving from strength to strength. We’ve held several events, including off-record briefings with key newsmakers, which have proven to be a great forum for exchanging thoughts and ideas for both the journalists and the guests. We’re looking forward to hosting more briefings this year,” Mmali said.

FCAU has also launched its website that profiles some of the members and shows their journalistic work.

The Association provides networking opportunities for members and is a contact point for anyone who wants to reach foreign correspondents working in Uganda. Members are broadcast, print and photojournalists from a wide range of foreign media outlets including BBC, Aljazeera, Reuters and The New York Times.

WHAT? As part of efforts to strengthen media oversight of the extractive sector, the African Centre for Media Excellence (Kampala), in conjunction with Revenue Watch Institute (New York), announces the availability of an award for best reporting on oil and gas for 2011.

WHY? (A) To raise the profile for good investigative, in-depth, analytical and enterprise reporting on extractives i.e. oil and gas in Uganda.

(B) To provide incentives for individual reporting on oil and gas.

WHO? This is therefore to invite Ugandan print and electronic media reporters to submit two of their best stories to be considered for the award. Others may submit the two stories on a reporter’s behalf. The stories must have been published in 2011.

WHEN? Deadline for submission of stories is 5 p.m., 21 November 2011. The awards ceremony will take place in Kampala in the second week of December 2011.

HOW? Electronic media reporters should submit two stories in a format easiest to listen to, and view, the entries. Both electronic and print media reporters may submit hard copies, soft copies, or online links of their stories. All entries should be addressed to the Programme Associate, African Centre for Media Excellence, P.O. Box 11283, Kampala; or dropped off physically at the ACME offices at Plot 124, Nanjala Road (off Ggaba Road at Soya-Bunga), Kampala. Soft copies and/or online links should be emailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and copied to Programme Associate Grace Natabaalo at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CRITERIA: (A) There will be 2 winners, 1 each in the electronic and print categories.

(B) A panel of 3 judges will pick the winner.

(C) The judges will be looking for entries that demonstrate the following qualities:

i) Originality;

ii) Enterprise and investigation;

iii) Analysis and depth;

iv) Relevance and significance; and

v) Potential to promote accountability in public policy and decision-making, and in the extractive industry.

AMOUNT: Each of the 2 winners will take home $1,500, a plaque, and a certificate.

Three journalists on Tuesday won prizes for best reporting at the first oil and gas media awards event organised by the African Centre for Media Excellence and the Revenue Watch Institute.

Mr. Ibrahim Kasita, a senior business writer with the New Vision newspaper, took the prize for best reporting in the print category for his investigative story: Government Could Pay Billions for Idle Rigs.

The story, the judges said, “is a distinguished example of originality and enterprise, prudent use of documents, strong and relevant sourcing, clear focus, and clear writing”.

Apart from providing individual incentive, the awards aim at raising the profile for good investigative, in-depth, analytical, and enterprise reporting on extractives in Uganda.

The winner for the broadcast category, Mr. Michael Wambi of Uganda Radio Network, submitted a feature: Uncovering the Oil Production Sharing Agreements.

“This feature is a distinguished example of bringing clarity to a subject already in the public domain – i.e. confidentiality of oil agreements – using solid sourcing, a strong script, conversational but not simplistic reporting style, thus breaking down a much-misinterpreted matter in a manner that increases the knowledge of the listener and encourages informed public discourse,” the judges said.

The awards are part of a three-year training programme funded by the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) and implemented in Uganda by the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) to strengthen media oversight of the extractive sector.

“The goal of our joint project, which is also being concurrently implemented in Ghana, is effective and consistent coverage by the media of extractive resources and revenues, contributing to their improved use for the public good in Africa,” said Dr. Peter Mwesige, the executive director of ACME. “The project does this by equipping a select group of journalists with knowledge on the oil and gas sector, and with skills to enable them report the sector effectively, and in particular from a point of knowledge.”

Dr George Lugalambi the Media Programme Officer for RWI said that the training was developed after extensive research in various countries about the needs of journalists.

Every aspect of the program including the duration of two 10-day workshops, he said, was decided with journalists’ best interests in mind, such as the difficulty many reporters have staying away from work for long periods. He advised reporters “to question everything and everybody and yourselves” to ensure fair and balanced reporting. Dr Lugalambi also appealed to reporters not to be tempted to dismiss outright the views of any actors involved in the oil and gas sector but to make an effort to understand their perspectives and to represent them accurately.

The awards and training would go a long way in helping journalists do better reporting, Information Minister Mary Karooro Okurut said while officiating at the event at the Serena Conference Centre in Kampala.

She said that the government would readily provide information to the journalists and promised an open-door policy.

The New Vision’s Gerald Tenywa was the overall runner-up in the competition that attracted 11 entrants from various media houses.

Each of the two winners took home $1,500, a plaque, and a certificate. Mr. Tenywa received a cash prize of $500 and a plaque.

Dr. George Lugalambi, the RWI media programme officer, underlined the importance of accuracy in reporting.

Keynote speaker Jackson Mwakali said that Uganda will have to invest in building capacity in its people and enterprises, especially manufacturing, if it is to reap lasting value from its oil and gas resources. A professor of engineering at Makerere University, Dr. Mwakali was part of a joint Ugandan and Norwegian team of consultants that recently completed a “National Content Study in the Oil and Gas Sector in Uganda” that looks at “Enhancing National Participation in the Oil and Gas Industry”.

Officials from oil company Tullow and the Petroleum Exploration and Production Department of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development attended the event. Also present were members of the civil society and the media.

About the training programme

The African Centre for Media Excellence has developed a programme with the Revenue Watch Institute and the Thomson Reuters Foundation to teach journalists how to report effectively on oil and gas, an industry that could bring huge benefits to Uganda if managed properly.

Revenue Watch monitors public finances, advises governments on policy choices and campaigns against corruption in mining and the oil and gas industry. The training programme is its first that directly targets journalists, and their role in promoting public debate on the sector. At the end of the three year project, 21 journalists will have received the training.

Read More About The Programme here