The Future Awards Africa
The Future Awards Africa are a set of awards given by The Future Project, a social enterprise communications firm affiliated to Red Africa. The awards are intended to celebrate young people between the ages of 18 and 31, who have made outstanding achievement in the year under consideration.
The idea for the awards was conceived by Chude Jideonwo, Adebola Williams, and Emilia Asim-Ita in 2005.
History
The Future Awards Africa's first event was on 6 February 2006, at Magnolia Hall, City Mall, Lagos. The venue for the 2011 event was the Landmark Events Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos. Since 2012, it has been held at the Altec Azcum in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The 2013 edition was hosted by on-air personality Toke Makinwa and rapper Vector.Categories, nomination, judging and awards
The awards are given to winners in diverse categories, including the Young Person of the Year category.Nomination results are usually announced to the public in late January.
There is a four-stage, three-month-long judging process involving a board of judges and an audit committee. Judges come from all over Africa. The judges include Mfonobong Nsehe, Belinda Otas, Brenda Wendo, Billie Adwoa McTernan, Adam Bouhadma, and Michelle Atagana.
The audit committee includes Katja Schiller Nwator, Mahamadou Sy, Wendy Luhabe, Abiola Alabi, Tonye Cole, Ndidi Nwuneli, Mo Abudu, Gbenga Sesan, Eikem Nutifafa, Chi-Chi Okonjo, Victoria Trabosh, Taa Wongbe, Ayo Ajayi and Jennah Scott.
The awards are presented at a live televised ceremony that is also streamed on the internet, most commonly in February or March following the relevant calendar year, and six weeks after the announcement of the final shortlist of nominees.
Young Person of the Year Award
Winners of the Young Person of the Year award include Tanzanian entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar, malaria scientist Ify Aniebo, writer Chimamanda Adichie, NASA scholar Tosin Otitoju, and agriculture entrepreneur and advocate Nnaemekan Ikegwuonu.Criticism
The awards have drawn criticism regarding the ages of the nominees. In December 2011, Chude Jideonwo said: "We certainly have had more than a few complaints about the ages of one or two nominees... Over the years we have had to withdraw the nominations of a few nominees who have been unable to prove their actual ages..."The awards have a two-week complaint period, within which the public can email complaints about any nominee to the Central Working Committee about the age or the substance of the achievement of the nominees.
In 2009, an email exchange between a dancer and a former winner of the award, Qudus Onikeku and Chude, leaked on the Sahara Reporters website, as the former sought to clarify comments he had made about the Young Person of the Year Award given to D'banj, in the year after his win, against the backdrop of the musician's controversial video for "Suddenly".