Kawowo Sports was one of the eight winners as Uganda Sports Press Associations (USPA) held successful inaugural Media Excellence Awards.
At the glamorous event held at Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala, Kawowo Sports beat Football 256 and Voice Bugerere to scoop the
Best Digital Sports Production – Websites, E-journal, and Podcasts award named; The Samuel Wossita Award.
Legendary Photographer Mpalanyi Ssentongo won the biggest accolade as he was awarded the Life time Achievement Award named after fallen colleague Andrew Patrick Luwandagga.
An emotional Mpalanyi who received a standing ovation from the house narrated how he joined sports journalism and stunned many when he revealed that he has been a USPA member since 1990.
“I would like to thank USPA for picking me,” stated Mpalanyi. “I joined USPA in 1990 and have been a member since and this award means a lot to me,” he added.
“I have worked with New Vision since 1992 and though I had to retire in 2019, my bosses told me to stay on and I requested that they let me do what I have passion for which is sports photography.”
Courtesy of Uganda Airlines and Pride Inn Hotels, Mpalanyi received a fully paid trip to Mombasa where he will go with a person of his choice.
Other winners on the afternoon included Daily Monitor’s trio of Makhtoum Muziransa (Best Sports News Report – TV, Radio, Print and Online ‘Bashir Khan Lugudo Award’), George Katongole (Best Sports News Report – ‘Print Edirisa Njuki Award’) and Andrew Mwanguhya (Investigative Sports Report –‘Kevin Aliro Award), Timothy Kuteesa of Football 256 (Sports Column Writing – Paul Waibale Award, Voice of America’s Davis Mugume (Best Sports News Report – Broadcast) and New Vision’s Richard Ssanya who won the Best Sports Photograph – JB Ssenkubuge Award.
USPA President Patrick Kanyomozi was elated that the dream to award the story tellers has finally come true and thanked former executives and also advocated for freedom of the press while executing their duties.
“We are here to celebrate sports journalism but we cannot go away without talking about media freedom,” said Kanyomozi.
“This is not political, but we request for everyone to respect journalists because it’s their job to report what they see, and if you do not want they say or write about, please do not do it.”
The event was a success thanks to mainly USPA partners Nile Breweries, City Tyres, Standard Chartered Bank, Uganda Airlines, Pride Inn Hotels, SEE TV and StarTimes who were all well represented.
Three former USPA presidents Mark Namanya, Sabiti Muwanga and Douglas Mazune were all in attendance.
The Summary of the Award Winners
Bashir Khan Lugudo Award
Best Sports News Report (TV, Radio, Print and Online) – Makhtoum Muziransa (Daily Monitor)
*The James Opoka Award
(Best Sports News Report – Broadcast – Radio and Television) – Davis Mugume (Voice of America)
*The Edirisa Mayanja Njuki Award
(Best Sports News Report – Print) – George Katongole (Daily Monitor)
*The John Bugembe Ssenkubuge Award
(Best Sports Photograph) – Richard Ssanya (New Vision)
*The Samuel Wossita Award
(Best Digital Sports Production – Websites, E-journal, Podcasts) – Kawowo Sports
*The Kevin Aliro Award
(Investigative Sports Report) – Andrew Mwanguhya (Daily Monitor)
*The Paul Waibale Award
(Sports Column Writing) – Timothy Kuteesa (Football256)
*The Andrew Luwandagga Award (Lifetime in service) – Ssentongo Mpalanyi