NMG journalists shine at ACME awards

The NMG-Uganda awardees were Ms Elizabeth Kamurungi and Ms Esther Oluka (both from Daily Monitor), who were joint winners of the Business reporting award; Mr Walter Mwesigye from NTV, the runner up in the category of Science and Technology, and Ms Barbra Nalweyiso (Daily Monitor), the runner up in the community reporting category.

Ms Rita Kemigisa from NTV was a runner up in the Energy, Petroleum and Mining category.

Reacting to her win, Ms Kamurungi said: “A senior journalist once told me that good journalism pays and yesterday (Wednesday), I was most excited and humbled that the efforts we invested in were recognised and awarded.”

“Looking back, it was well worth it combing through the multitudes of files of data to produce the quality piece that we did,” she added.

Mr Tony Glencross, the managing director of NMG-Uganda, said: “We always strive to put out the best content and when it gets recognised, we know we are doing something right. We will always try and achieve the best content, for our audiences. I congratulate all our content creators who were recognised, it makes us proud”.

Mr Daniel Kalinaki, the general manager Editorial at NMG-Uganda, said: “Journalists often work in difficult conditions, so it is gratifying when we stop to salute them. In all the discussions about media business models we should never forget the importance of good journalism, and that of the people who produce it.”

This year, a winner in each category whether one or more, each walked away with a cash prize of Shs1.5m and the runner up took Shs500,000 with accolades.

Speaking at the gala in Kampala on Wednesday night, the Ambassador of European Union, Mr Jan Sadek, pledged to support good journalism amid the tough financial times, especially that Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) is no more.

“At the EU, we also know very well that much of this work had been supported by the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF), which unfortunately had to close. I want to assure you that the EU remains committed to supporting independent media, access to information and quality journalism. In this light, we will retain a focus on these issues as we develop new programmes in the area of democratic governance,” Mr Sadek said.

He added: “We will do our utmost to keep the media fraternity in Uganda in the loop about our activities, knowing that transparency leads to better results. In addition, the media plays a critical role in promoting accountability in the usage of public and development funding.”

Ms Susan Nsibirwa, the chair of the Board of Directors at ACME, said since its inception nine years ago, more than 2,500 journalists from across the country, have competed in the awards.

She said in this era of misinformation and disinformation, it’s prudent that good journalism is celebrated.

“In a time when misinformation and disinformation can spread like wildfire, the role of credible and well-informed journalism is more crucial than ever. By acknowledging and rewarding outstanding journalism, we not only uplift the journalists themselves, but we also bolster the very foundation of our democracy,” Ms Nsibirwa said.

She added: “These awards are more than just a recognition of individual achievement, they are a celebration of the indomitable spirit that drives journalists to uncover truths, to amplify voices that would otherwise remain unheard, and to challenge the status quo in pursuit of progress.”

Ms Nsibirwa further revealed that this year, 262 entries were submitted for competition by 183 journalists from more than 20 media houses.

Explaining the criteria used in selecting the best journalists for the awards, Mr Benon Herbert Oluka, the chief judge, said his team considered five major areas of news value, reporting, clarity and style, accuracy and completeness, and format and technical quality.

“Each of these areas was then broken down into several other considerations. For instance, in the area of news value, we considered the following: (a) originality of the subject, initiative and enterprise (b) topicality, significance and importance of the subject (c) insights, informative qualities and engagement, as well as (d) thoughtful and logical interpretation and analysis,”Mr Oluka said.

He, however, decried the declining quality of journalism.

Mr Oluka urged the editors in the newsrooms to always review the stories submitted for ACME consideration.

“Our general assessment was that when we compared this year’s entries with those of 2022, it is apparent that the quality of journalism in Uganda has not seen much significant improvement. We think this is not just down to the strengths and weaknesses of individual journalists. It also says something about the gatekeeping, mentorship in the newsrooms and the level of investment into editorial content development by media organisations,”Mr Oluka said.

“Therefore, as a starting point, we recommend that editors and news managers should take time to review the performance of submissions from their media houses to these awards, because these also reflect on the quality in-house. Poor performers obviously needed more editor support and guidance because someone approved the content that got published,” he added.

THE AWARDS

The African Centre for Media Excellence runs the annual Uganda National Journalism Awards. The awards were launched in 2014 with the goal of  improving the quality of journalism in Uganda by inspiring and recognising excellence in reporting on public affairs issues. The awards are open to all Ugandan journalists who are professional and competent, but also exhibit a passion for in-depth public affairs reporting and investigative journalism.

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