New Vision sweeps photo awards

By Norman Katende

"I was at the scene and was walking away, when I saw a girl looking for her notes from the pile, I decided to take the photo and I did not know that it would win an award," said  New Vision's photographer, Abou Kisige.

This was the brief speech made by Kisige  after he was announced winner of the Uganda Press Photo Award 2015  annual award at the ceremony that took place at the Uganda Museum, Thursday evening.

Kisige's photo, which he took in the rubble of the demolished Nabagereka Primary School in Mengo Kisenyi, won the News category and overall award, from the 1,500 entries received by the US Mission, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Canon and Definition Africa sponsored event.

Mpalanyi Ssentongo's photo was 2nd runner up in the sports category

He later said that he did not want to go for the assignment but his supervisor Jimmy Adriko forced him to pick his camera and go to the school and this has been rewarded with a Canon 7D DSL camera and a 1 TB external drive memory.
 
The News category award was dominated by his colleagues; Kennedy Oryema and Abu Mwesigwa.

Norman Katende's photo of a high jumper during national trials at Namboole was 1st runner up in the sports category

Oryema's photo was of the state prosecutor  Joan Kagezi's children grieving and  Mwesigwa's photo was of president  Yoweri Museveni sprinting were respective second  and third placed in the  news category.

Carl De Souza, the head of the selection committee said that photo had been selected because of its impact, composition and background, which told the story by a mere look at it.

Samson Opus won the sports category

New Vision's Samson Opus won the sports category award followed by Norman Katende and Mpalanyi Ssentongo.

Another New Vision photographer Richard Sanya was runner-up in the story category, which was won by Sarah Waiswa, while Joel Nsadah won the Nature, portrait and Daily life category.

Mwesigwa's photo of president  Yoweri Museveni sprinting was taken in Kabale

US Mission spokesperson Chris Brown noted that though the photographers are rarely given recognition in the daily newspaper, the photos they take are far more than so many stories.

"That single image from all over the world can instantly shape a story," said Brown.