Uganda’s Serwanjja wins the Komla Dumor Award

BBC World News Komla Dumor Award winners

✳2015 Nancy Kacungira Uganda 🇺🇬
✳2016 Didi Akinyelure Nigeria 🇳🇬
✳2017 Amina Yuguda Nigeria 🇳🇬
✳2018 Waihiga Mwaura Kenya 🇰🇪
✳2019 S. Serwanjja Uganda 🇺🇬

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandan journalist Solomon Serwanjja has won the BBC  Komla Dumor Award.

He becomes the second Ugandan to win the award in its five year history. The award was set up in honour of presenter Komla Dumor who passed away in January 2014, and aims to continue his legacy by celebrating African journalism and finding exceptional talent.

“Komla brought so much to the African narrative – his perspective was a breath of fresh air, as he believed Africa was rising and that the world needed to see the continent from a different angle,” Serwanjja told BBC after he was named the award winner.

Another Ugandan journalist with the BBC, Alan Kasujja, broke the news on twitter (see tweet bottom) early today in an interview with Serwanjja. Kasujja is the Lead Presenter #BBCNewsday.

According to BBC, the award goes annually to outstanding individuals living and working in Africa, with strong journalism skills, on-air flair, and an exceptional talent in telling African stories.

Journalists from across the continent are invited to apply for the award, which aims to uncover and promote fresh talent from Africa. The winner spends three months at the BBC headquarters in London, gaining skills and experience.

The award was established to honour Komla Dumor, an exceptional Ghanaian broadcaster and presenter for BBC World News, who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014.

Who is Serwanjja?

Serwanjja is an investigative journalist with NBS television. He was in the headlines worldwide earlier this year when he faced arrest in the middle of a documentary on drug theft in Uganda. Police raided his home and arrested his wife Vivian Serwanjja in an attempt to have him come out of hiding.

Africa Eye worked together with the Ugandan investigative journalist in the documentary “Stealing from the sick”.

BBC Africa Eye headed undercover to expose one of the reasons why there is shortage of life saving drugs – medicine theft by medical professionals.

Congratulations to my compatriot ⁦@SolomonSerwanjj⁩

Winner of 2019 BBC Komla Dumor Award..

A truly deserving winner! pic.twitter.com/yH8l01wIGI

— Alan Kasujja (@kasujja) September 30, 2019

VIDEO: Stealing from the sick https://t.co/DDM2EHwEuW pic.twitter.com/fTmdZ83kL8

— The Independent (@UGIndependent) August 16, 2019