2017 young achievers awards nominees unveiled

The finalists for the 2017 Young Achievers Awards have been unveiled.

The awards look to celebrate and make known young people who have greatly impacted on Ugandan society positively.

This year's young achievers awards are organized under the theme "Rewarding Innovation and Excellence, Inspiring the next generation of World Leaders".

In this year's category, 41 nominees have been selected from the 315 young people that participated in the competitions to battle for the awards in different categories.

Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU), Humphrey Nabimanya

 
The categories include; Business, Outstanding sports personality, media and journalism excellence, Innovation and ICT, Social Entrepreneurship, Farming and Agro-Processing, Creative Arts(Music category), Creative Arts(Fashion) and  Creative Arts( Film and Photography).

The winners of each of the seven categories that attracted nominations from the public will be announced at the awards gala night ceremony on the August 12, which is also the International Youth Day.

President Museveni is expected to be the guest of honour, the event will take place at Kampala Serena Hotel.

Speaking during the unveiling of the nominees held at Serena Hotel in Kampala on Tuesday,

Awel Uwihanganye, one of the founders of the awards said the awards are not only meant to celebrate the winners, but to also use them as examples to encourage, give hope, empower and inspire young people struggling to better their lives that they can make it once committed.

"We want more young people to discover themselves, their dreams, work hard to achieve their dreams, not only to better themselves, but also contribute to the betterment of their communities," Uwihanganye said

Some of the organizers of Young Achievers Awards.

 
The team leader and Founder Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU), the organization behind the awards, Humphrey Nabimanya said for Uganda to achieve Vision 2040, investment in human capital is very crucial.

He said young people play a critical role in the development of any country, and therefore must be invested in.

The Young Achievers Awards was founded in 2009 with the main objective of encouraging entrepreneurship and recognizing innovation and excellence.

The 2017 Young Achievers Awards were launched by the Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda early this year at Serena hotel.

The finalists were selected by two panels of judges. The first round which composed of category judges who assessed the top 10 nominees in their respective categories and later the audit judges who selected a winner out of each of the categories that attracted nominations from the public.

Jackie Asiimwe, a lawyer and rights activist, one of the judges applauded all the young people that participated in the competitions, noting that though not everyone has been nominated to compete for the awards, the fact that they had the courage to participate, they are all winners.