MultiChoice Uganda has announced winners of the 2016 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards competition at a prize giving ceremony held at their head offices in Kololo today.
The sixth segment of the science and technology based competition saw Dennis Mitala from St Mary’s College Kisubi as winner of the essay category while Gordon Brian Alemo from the same school as runner up. Seeta High School dominated the poster category with Ronald Musinguzi as overall winner and Edwin Ira merged as runner up.
The DStv Eutelsat Star Awards are a product of a partnership between Eutelsat and MultiChoice Africa which aims to stimulate interest in science and technology and to inspire innovative thinking among secondary and high school students across the continent in 42 countries.
This year students across the continent participated both in writing an essay or designing a poster to portray themselves into the future as scientists and design a new age satellite that will help improve the lives of Africans and depict the different roles and functions the satellite would play in Africa and its future.
During the event, MultiChoice Uganda’s PR & Communications Manager Tina Wamala noted that the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards is a Corporate Social Investment Strategy for the company which is held annually. She said, “MultiChoice understands that to develop and shape today and the future of our generation, technology and science play a vital part that is why we invest in this competition. Our partnership with Eutelsat is passionately based on our common belief that the two fields are great contributors to digitalizing Africa.”
Over 23 schools in Uganda submitted a total number of 165 entries, vetted by a carefully selected panel of judges to determine the winning applicants. The winning essay and poster will enter into the overall Africa awards and represent Uganda at the continental competition where the best overall in both categories will win a trip to Eutelsat offices in Paris, France and onward to witness a rocket launch for the essay winner and a satellite construction site for the poster winner. The overall two runners up for the best essay and poster respectively, will win trips to MultiChoice offices in Johannesburg and the South Africa Space Agency at Hartbeesthoek.
Uganda is no stranger to winning in the continental competition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, producing the runner up poster in 2015, best overall poster winner in 2014, runner up overall poster in 2013, the best overall essay and runner up overall poster in 2012 and best overall essay in 2011.
The panel of judges this time round included; Ms. Sarah Agaba Kabahuma, Frequency Planner at Uganda Communications Commission and head judge for the competition, Mr. Geoffrey Agoi, Principal Broadcasting Engineer, Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, Mr. James Amatre, an English Teacher at Nabisunsa Girls school representing the Ministry of Education, Dr. Roseline Nyongarwizi Akol, Lecturer and Head, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology, Makerere University, Ms. Adrine Twinamatsiko, branches manager of Multichoice Uganda.
