Organised by Eutelsat and MultiChoice Africa, the 2012 DStv Eutelsat
Star Awards has proved a resounding success, drawing on the popularity
of last year's first edition for high-school students from across
Africa. The winners of the 2012 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards were
announced on 22 November in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with a spotlight on
East Africa as Anthony Oyom Peter from Uganda was chosen as the winner
for essay and Eva Chemwgorem from Kenya for poster.
Anthony came out top in the Best Essay Award category with his entry "A
Watchful Eye From Above The Heavens". This is the second year that a
Ugandan student takes first place in the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards. The
Best Poster Award went to Eva Chemwgorem from Kenya for her work titled
"Africa United Through Satellites".
Antony's prize is a trip with one of his parents to watch a live rocket
launch and a visit to Eutelsat in France. Eva will also visit Eutelsat's
Paris headquarters to get a closer insight on satellite technology.
Awards for the runners up for Best Essay and Best Poster Awards went to
Charles Finch from Swaziland and Tony Tumnsiime from Uganda who will
both visit MultiChoice's broadcast facilities in Johannesburg, South
Africa.
Of over 1100 entries from across the continent, the final judging panel
reviewed the work of 10 finalists and commented on the high standard of
work. The panel members, comprised Judging Chairman Mr Patrick Baudry,
an experienced astronaut and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador; Ms Queen Mbori,
Sub editor at the Citizen newspaper; Catherine Bukoza, Principal
Education Officer from the Education Ministry, Tanzania; Ms Jane Mbugua,
Senior assistant Director, Ministry of Education, Kenya and Ms
Frederique Gautier representing Eutelsat.
Nico Meyer, CEO of MultiChoice Africa added that considering the scope
of Africa's challenges today, it is impossible for one organisation to
effect change without on-the-ground support. "Partnerships are crucial
in spreading the burden of development, and identifying and sharing the
responsibilities. Partnerships are also central to our core business at
MultiChoice. We depend on strong ties with governments, service
providers, subscribers and shareholders for continued growth and
success. Our application of our Corporate Social Investments is no
different - we prioritise building and mobilising partnerships with
country governments and our business partners to jointly leverage our
assets and expertise to nurture talent, harness skills and expand
opportunity through technology access."
Adding to this Michel de Rosen, CEO of Eutelsat Communications said:
"With more than 1,100 essays and posters from 17 African countries, the
DStv Eutelsat Star Awards is a resounding success. The quality of the
work submitted underscores the students' intense interest in space and
satellite technologies as well as their awareness of the challenge of
transforming the trend towards digital into economic and social progress
of benefit to all. The overwhelming response to the Awards encourages us
to increase our commitment with MultiChoice Africa and to combine our
mutual expertise in order to support science and technology education in
Africa."
In a related story, Multichoice Ghana on 23rd November 2012 presented
prizes to the country winner and runner-up of the DStv Eutelsat Start
Awards 2012 competition (for the essay category) at their offices in
Accra. The winner, Audrey Datieka Anchirinah of St. Louis Senior High
School took home an Acer Tablet computer and a certificate of
participation and the runner-up Abigail Srodah Amedzake of Labone Senior
High School, took home an Apple iPod Touch and a certificate of
participation.
This year, Multichoice Ghana were unable to select a winner and runner
up for the poster category as none of the poster entries submitted met
the awards standards. This was a decision based on the recommendation of
the judging panel for this year's awards to Multichoice Ghana.
General Manager of Multichoice Ghana, Mr. Cecil Sunkwa Mills,
congratulated the winners for their achievement and said "We are very
proud of you and it is our wish that you go on to win the overall
awards. The number of entries received double this year and so we urge
teachers and principals of the various high schools and parents to
encourage their students and children to participate in the competition
next year".
Aside providing the highest quality television entertainment Multichoice
Ghana and Africa are keenly aware of their responsibility to invest
meaningfully in the development of African communities. The Multichoice
Resource Centre Initiative that is the organisations social investment
program across Africa, aims to provide access to high quality learning
resources to learners and teachers, extend scarce teaching resources to
a wider and diverse audience and deploy technology in a cost effective
manner to improve education and not as an end to itself.
Currently, there are 35 Multichoice Resource Centres in Ghana equipped
with DStv hardware and the educational bouquet for free. Ten additional
schools will be selected and equipped by the end of this year.