By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
Three Media Awards were awarded to four Kampala International University (KIU) students as part of their outstanding and distinctive projects in the Media Mega Awards and Media Challenge Initiative Competitions in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Three of the winners namely Isaac Tayebwa, Ruth Nalwanga and Hilda Nayiga were awarded for the meritorious or praiseworthy innovations to the MCI on December 15th 2022, for having otherwise enhanced its objectives in recognition of emerging talent in journalism and becoming best participants in different categories of the Inter-institutional media Challenge, whereas Jenifer Alokit Sylivia won the best Community Reporter Award in the Media Mega Star Awards Ceremony organized by the Mediapreneur Hub in Kabalagala on Saturday 20th November 2021.
The four award winners were among the 1,862 that graduated at KIU’s 28th Graduation Ceremony at the Main Campus Kansanga over the weekend.
Parrots Media spoke to them about their awards, graduation and plans for the future.
Isaac Tayebwa, Parrots UG [Parrots Media] Reporter, MCI Best Producer Luganda News Award Winner
While Isaac Tayebwa’s time has been a dedication to field reporting with Parrots UG, he is also committed to production, having developed two more precisely audio adverts for the same media company that incorporated Parrots Media visual information into audio. Tayebwa received MCI award as the best participant for Luganda News Producer in 2022, a dream he has lived to achieve to date.
“I feel so good because this is a dream come true, this is a day I have been waiting for […] The skills I obtained at KIU and other skills I am going to use them to create more opportunities for other young journalists that are upcoming,” said a graduate of Bachelors of Arts in Mass Communication.
@tayebwa_isaa, Reporter at PARROTS MEDIA graduated with Bachelors of Mass Communication at #KIU28thGrad . He commended Parrots Media for grooming and blossoming him to a good journalist he is today. pic.twitter.com/XQUwXx8yop
— Parrots UG (@parrotsug) November 27, 2023
Ruth Nalwanga and Hilda Nayiga, MCI Best Gender Reporter Award Winners
Nalwanga and Nayiga’s story of winning this award is both tearful and joyful one. The duo were declared best Gender Report Award Winners in Luganda News after their project was considered outstanding. To their surprise, when the organizers contacted top contenders inviting them to the awarding ceremony, they were never contacted and were filled with despair.
While Nayiga followed the event online, her co-winner Nalwanga did not know that they had scooped an award until she learned about it a day later.
“I wasn’t called but I followed the whole event online. I never expected to win given the stiff competition from different universities,” Nayiga said in an interview with KIU News portal.
On the other hand Nalwanga had this to say; “I felt good though I could not believe it, the competition was tough and because we had not been called, there was no hope that such a miracle would come to pass.”
The duo story was based on an informative report on the Effects of Gender stereotypes on Women in Uganda. They defeated other contestants from Makerere University, UMCAT and Cavendish University.
Whereas Nalwanga contends that there is still gender stereotyping in the media and disparities in the socio-economic and political spheres against women, she is committed to use her Bachelors of Mass Communication and award to advocate for equity and fairness. She says many women and girls are dying in silence due to lack of sanitary towels, limited financial and political inclusion, sexual harassment against women in the media to mention but a few which she looks forward to raising their voices through objective reporting.
Nayiga on the contrary attributed gender stereotyping in the media to female journalists who opt to go for soft fields such as Radio / TV presentation, photojournalism, Public Relations and hotel conference reporting leaving out hard to go fields such as political and crime reporting, investigative journalism, critical journalism to men.
She urges female journalists to move out of their comfort zones and get refresher trainings to acquire more skills to enable them undertake ‘hard’ assignments if they are to break the barriers to prosper in the media industry.
Jenifer Alokit Sylivia, Best Community Report Award Winner at Media Mega Star Awards, Mediapreneur Hub, 2021
Jenifer Alokit Sylivia, a graduate of Mass Communication at KIU who also doubles as Best Community Reporter Award winner at Media Mega Star Awards during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. She is one of the rising journalists with great enthusiasm for CR. She pledges to use her Bachelors Degree and award to amplify unheard voices and link government and other stakeholder programs to targeted communities.
“I want to write stories that will be voices to the voiceless and be able to do what’s expected of me,” Alokit told Parrots Media.
All the four award winners implored students to always utilize opportunities whenever they come to them so that they may be able to develop their careers.
