#irepresent Nigeria, the Future Awards 2010

Young people changing and rebranding Nigeria. The Future . . . a beautiful thing . . .you should be a part of the movement. The Future Awards Nigeria launched its campaign last week. In additon, its official site is active and ready for your nominations. Check images from the event and most importantly head on to www.thefuturenigeria.com to choose who you think should be part of these categories.

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BUSINESS-OWNER OF THE YEAR
This award if for that young person that has to set up a viable business, is getting verifiable patronage and is transparently seen to be succeeding with it. There must be a sizeable number of employees relative to the business, it must control incidents of production, and must have visible impact in the sector/field of business. The business must be at least two years old. Proper accounting, registration and tax books must be available for inspection.

BEST — USE OF ADVOCACY
This is for young people or non-profit organizations with the role of advocacy for young people – either in terms of capacity building, activism or interface.There must be a proper structure, accountability and proof of impact. The organisation must be at least two years old.

CREATIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
This if for young people in the core arts; which would be sculptors, painters, photographers and the others in the generic – writers are included. The winner must have a large and respected portfolio, and must have made visible impact in the selected art – which might include but are not restricted to publications, participation in major exhibitions et al.

MODEL OF THE YEAR
This must be a professional model who must have garnered hours for major assignments – either as a runway or photography model. The person’s work profile must be able to display the reality that modelling is a viable profession. There must also be verifiable income from jobs done.

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
This is for the actor (or actress) who has acted in a critical number of major movies/plays, at least enough to achieve either popular or critical acclaim. It will help if he/she has also gotten other credible awards for their craft, as well as if that person has also spent up to two years in the film/stage industry.

BEST — USE OF TECHNOLOGY
This is for that person who has done a lot of impressive work in the area of technology, preferably information technology – and there must be some kind of recognition or institutional buy-in for that work. The award is for a technology entrepreneur or one who has advanced practical innovation in the area.

COMEDIAN OF THE YEAR
This award is for the young person with a high profile in comedy in the past year – performing at major shows, corporate events etc – with an A-list work profile that can serve as transparent proof of success in the field. Awards are a plus.

JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR
This award is for print journalists between the set ages who have written in and for reputed and reputable magazines/newspapers in Nigeria and perhaps abroad. The writing must be comparable to the best anywhere in the world – the ideas and copies/interviews must be creative and essentially original in thought and approach. He/she must also be an extremely hard worker, and this must be evident in the nomination. It would also help if he/she has gotten at least one credible award.

MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR
This award is for magazines that are run/ managed by young people, target young people and are immensely popular amongst certain groups of young people – the magazine must circulate fairly widely. It should be well produced, well planned and well laid out (pictures need not be fantastic, but should be discernible). The content of the magazine is our focus – it must be of a quality comparable, at the least, with magazines for the general public. The English must be competent, and it must be rich and relevant. It must also be balanced – this does not exclude religious or otherwise specific magazines, but presupposes that whatever is nominated should be well rounded.

MUSIC PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
This belongs to the young person who is into the production of music, whether for artistes, or for corporate use – the work must be a commercial or popular success. It helps if the producer has worked with already established brands name. Whatever the case, he/she must also have made a name for his/herself, and earned respect amongst his/her peers. We must also be able to see instances of jobs this person is directly responsible for, and those jobs must either be of an obviously high quality.

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR (Endowed by Hip on TV)
This award goes to that person whose music is extremely popular, and not just amongst 18-31 year olds. It need not be famous internationally (though that won’t hurt), but Nigeria must feel its impact. The musician should also have won or been nominated in other credible awards and must have performed in major concerts. He/she must also be relevant at the moment.

SCREEN PRODUCER OF THE YEAR (Endowed by NIGEZIE)
This belongs to the young person who works behind the scenes on screen and is very good at the job i.e. producers, editors, cameraman etc, that have worked with award-winning or respected artistes/shows/TV programmes/Commercials etc. He/she must also have made a name for his/herself, and earned respect amongst his/her peers. We must also be able to see instances of jobs this person is directly responsible for, and those jobs must either be of an obviously high quality or must be highly popular. He/she must also be relevant at the moment.

ON AIR PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR (TV)
This award is for the radio presenter/host who is really popular for his/her work. Their shows need not be of the highest quality, given the challenges of our environment, but must be of basic standard quality. The idea however is that the personality and talent of the person must shine through. Experience as a presenter/host outside of the studio will also help.

ON-AIR PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR (RADIO)
The criteria are same as above – but for radio.

PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR (Endowed by Ideashaus)
This is for intra-preneurs: 1) for the young person doing extremely well in the corporate world. That person must have a major job/assignment in a flourishing organization, or must have reached enviable heights/positions in that organisation OR 2) an award for the professional (professional university/curriculum courses e.g. Doctor, Pilot, Engineer, Accountant) who has achieved considerable success in tha field or who has broken ceilings, or blazed a trail. Professional certifications, etc are an added plus.

(Certain concerned people have rightly raised issues with the name ‘Professional’ for this category. We wish therefore to restate that the fact of this category being called ‘Professional’ does not seek to undermine the professional nature of other categories. Whilst we agree with the principle of their objections, we have to emphasis that the overriding interest guiding such decisions is to make sure that people can connect with the words, and therefore it is simply a matter of nomenclature. To reach a suitable compromise for the purposes of communication, we have decided on and remain convinced about using ‘Professional’ in the conventional academic sense.)

SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR
This award goes to the young person in sports who has won major tournaments and represented the country internationally – either directly of indirectly. Medals or trophies won also count as an advantage.

BEST — USE OF SCIENCE
Word out there is that there are not a long people interested in science, and with our academic environment wired against development in science, it is difficult to find young people with solid achievement in this area. But we don’t agree: under the broad categories of physics, chemistry and biology, we know there are a critical number of young Nigerians who are advancing impressive, practical innovations that can compare with the best around the world. This might also involve innovation or entrepreneurship in science.

EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC SERVICE
Whilst young people must be able to excel independent of and in spite of government, it is important to celebrate the few who are able to be in public service and maintain their integrity and drive. This award is for those young people in government and public service who have been remarkable, or who have been able to actively encourage accountability of transparency.

TEAM OF THE YEAR
While individual success is of course admirable, some of the world’s most remarkable breakthroughs have been pulled off via a synergy. In a nation where collaboratives and groups die faster than they are built, we salute the courage and spirit behind young people who pool resources and talent together to achieve breakthroughs, and who have been successful at it – in any sector or industry – through this award.

YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR
This award is the biggest of the 20 awards, and is for that Nigerian between 18 and 31 who has blazed a trail and achieved mind blowing success in any field, thereby becoming an ultimate role model of talent and hard work for millions of young people. This person must also be a Nigerian with visible leadership skills and who projects positive values that young people primarily, and then the whole of Nigeria, can connect with. Young people must aspire to be like this person.

~Categories and descriptions from the Future Nigeria/Redstrat Communications

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