Call for Nominations: Daily Trust African of the Year Award

Daily Trust has called for nominations of exemplary personalities for the coveted African of the Year 2020. The award enjoys the sponsorship support of UBA Plc which gave 50,000USD annually.

In a statement made available to the media, Ag. CEO of Media Trust Limited, publishers of DAILY TRUST, Mr. Nura Daura, said ideal nominees should be ordinary Africans who have made extra-ordinary contributions to humanity in any field from any part of the continent. Mr. Daura disclosed that the award consists of three components, namely, a permanent plaque, a certificate of merit and a cash reward in aid of the awardee or his/her chosen charity project.

Valid entries for the 2020 award will be for works, events or activities undertaken by the nominee between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020 and nominations are to be made online at award.dailytrust.com. The eventual winner will be selected by a seven-member prize committee chaired by His Excellency, Mr. Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana. Other members of the Committee who represent Africa’s regional blocs are: Ambassador Mona Omar (North Africa), Mr. Amadou Mahtar Ba (West Africa), Ms. Gwen Lister (Southern Africa) and the Chairman of the Board of Media Trust Limited, Mr. Kabiru Yusuf represents the award promoters.

The DAILY TRUST Ag. CEO, emphasised that a winner will emerge strictly based on the selection criteria and not the number of entries submitted on his/her behalf. Mr. Daura also disclosed that the presentation ceremony for the 2020 edition of the African of the Year Award will still hold in Abuja, Nigeria, in January, 2021, despite the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, but in adherence with internationally established protocols for convening events under the coronavirus atmosphere.

Now in its 13th edition, the African of the Year Award was inaugurated in 2008 by DAILY TRUST in fulfilment of the newspaper’s commitment to African unity and sustainable development across the continent. With this annual award, Mr. Daura said the newspaper hopes to entrench the culture of selflessness among Africans with the aim of creating a pool of role-models for others to emulate. 

The maiden award was presented to a Congolese gynaecologist, Dr. Denis Mukwege, in recognition of his exemplary humanitarian offer of free reconstructive surgery to victims of rape in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018, which is 10 years after DAILY TRUST recognised his remarkable humanitarian gesture. Last year’s award was won by popular South African humanitarian, Rosalia Mashale, for her commitment to providing loving care to the orphans from Khayelitsha, a community afflicted by the severest AIDS epidemic in the world.

Eligibility

• Only Citizens of African Countries are eligible for nomination.
•  The nominee’s activities for which s/he is nominated Must be exemplary and significant to African.
•  The contributions can be in any sphere of human endeavours but should be on impact across African boarders.
•  The nomination should be based on actions, events or works that have taken place between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019.
•  Nomination Must be submitted before or at midnight 6th November, else it becomes invalid.

Prize Committee

The prize committee is chaired by Mr. Festus Mogae (Former President of Botswana). Other members are appointed from Africa’s regional blocs.

• Mr. Festus Mogae: Chairman of Jury (Former President of Botswana).
• Mr. Kabiru A. Yusuf: DailyTrust Representative (Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive officer of Media Trust Limited).
• Mr. Amadou Mahtar Ba: West Africa (CEO of African Media Initiative, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of AllAfrica Global Media Inc,)
• Ms. Gwen Lister: Southern Africa (Namibian journalist, publisher, apartheid opponent and press freedom activist).
• Amb. Mona Omar: North Africa Rep. (Career diplomat with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a consumate educationist).
• Mr. Pascal K. Kambale: Central Africa (Congolese human rights lawyer, Director, country office of OSISA in DRC and Deputy Director, AfriMAP).
• Prof. Sylvia Tamale: East Africa Rep. (Leading African feminist lawyer and scholar at Makarere University in Kampala, Uganda.)

Award Timeline

Nomination:

• Call for Nomination/Entries: Aug. 24, 2020 – Oct. 24, 2020.
•  Collation and Review of Nominations: Oct. 30, 2020.

Unveiling:

• Profiling and verification of claims: Nov. 1-7, 2020
• Final shortlisting of candidates: November. 14-21, 2020
•  Meeting of prize committee/ selection of winner: 2^nd week in November 2020.
•  Production of Kilimanjaro to honour the awardee: Dec. 2020.

Presentation:

Award presentation/Dinner: Jan 20, 2021

 TARGET: Citizens of African Countries
 PRIZE: Plaques, Certificates and Cash rewards
 HOST: Daily Trust, UBA Plc
 DEADLINE: August 24, 2020
 REMINDER: Support Room

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