The wait is finally over. New Vision’s Top 40 under 40 finalists of 2020 selected by a panel of judges recently have been unveiled.

After powerful arguments, deliberations and scrutiny of the nominees, the judges picked the top 20 men and 20 women that have scaled the heights of their career and socially impacted others.

Social impact is important because it is in line with the company’s vision to be a media house that advances society.

The quest for finalists began on November 1, 2020 and ended on January 31, 2021. For the sixth year running, the project aims at recognising role models for the Ugandan youth to look up to.

Armed with experience in different disciplines, the team of five judges included Michael Niyitegeka, an information technology consultant; Janet Bugembe, the founder of The Mentorship Class and Samuel Mwogeza, the chief financial officer of Stanbic Bank. Others are Vision Group’s Paul Busharizi, the Public Editor and Penlope Nankunda, the head of the Digital Hub.

The chairperson of the judges, Niyitegeka, after selection of the winners, asked New Vision to develop some detailed criteria for the nominees. “That criteria will make up the reasons the nominees give when submitting their profiles before we begin our judgement,” Niyitegeka said.

He explained that the details should include what the nominator said about the nominee.

Hilary Bainemigisha, a senior producer in the Information and Education Hub, told the judges the purpose of the exercise was bring together different people who have inspirational stories.

He said New Vision intends to publish a book containing all the success stories of the awardees from the time the competition started back in 2016. He noted that all the writers will be guided on the type of questions, which will clearly bring out the background of the nominees.

“This time around the only difference is that we looked at what the nominee did during the pandemic. This is because the pandemic has changed the way everybody thinks,” Jackie Nalubwama, a producer in the Information and Education Hub, who was in charge of the project, said.

How they were picked

Out of 96 profiles, the best 40 were picked by panellists in different fields such as medicine, agribusiness, entrepreneurship, academia, sports and social work.

Others fields were law, business, finance and banking, fashion, technology and education.

In no particular order, the best nominees were picked based on the following criteria: should be 40 years and below, the degree of innovation, impact on the community and significance of the individual’s personal story to New Vision’s readers.

Another yardstick judges considered because of the uniqueness 2020 presented with COVID-19, was how the nominees soldiered on in their respective fields and the impact they had on the community in the pandemic.

The abridged version of the finalists has been published in the Sunday Vision, so buy a copy and find out who won.

Subscribe to our #EPAPER by clicking here 👉🏽 bit.ly/3d3acBF | #VisionUpdates