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The 3rd Annual Communications Awards  (ACIA) were launched this morning at the Kampala Sheraton hotel over breakfast. Various stakeholders in the ICT Sector were present to witness the launch.

The awards are focused on the communications sector in Uganda with the objective of promoting and recognising innovation and are organised by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the body that regualates the communications and broadcasting sector in Uganda.

Last year, ACIA entailed five categories that included the Rural e-services award, the local content award, the student research award, green ICT award, e-government and e-governance award. This year, the 3rd ACIA has five categories as follows:

1) Young ICT innovators Award

    a) Uganda's rising stars

    This award shall recognise extraordinary application of ICTs by secondary school students towards the reduction of the digital divide in Uganda. This may be with regard to ICT access, affordability, availability and/or it's applicability

    b) Uganda's ICT Visionaries

    This award shall recognize an ICT based innovation developed by students in tertiary or a vocational institution that seeks to make a city or town of their choice, smarter by:

        i. Improving the attractiveness of the natural conditions,

        ii. Improving energy efficiency throught the use of ICT,

        iii. Reducing pollution including sustainable management of the End of life (EOL) of ICT equipment

        iv. Facilitating sustainable resource management

        v. Raising awareness and promoting sustainable behavioural change

    The city or town of choice should be selected from among these: Kampala, Arua, Gulu, Hoima, Mukono, Jinja, Mbale, Wakiso, Mbarara or Soroti.

2) Business Excellence Award

    This award shall recognise outstanding use of ICT by an organisation, whose core business is not ICT, to improve the organisation's performance -efficiency, effectiveness or both.

3) ICT for Development Award

    This award shall recognise the extraordinary use of ICTs to improve the livelihoods of communities by facilitating Uganda's achievement of any of the millenium development goals

4) Service Excellence Award

    a) Enabling communication for all

        This award shall recognise outstanding innovative approaches by licensed telecom providers to eliminate barriers to ICT inclusion in Uganda

     b) Content for all

         This award shall recognise the most creative programming that ensures accessibility and applicability of information to the diverse local audiences

     c) Modernising post and courier

         This award shall recognise the best use of systems and technology by the postal or courier operators to enhance operational efficiency towards a better quality of service

5) Digital Content Award

    This award shall recognize the outstanding compilation of text, images including video, or sound into an application or product that enhances the value and use of communication networks and services within local communities in Uganda

The deadline for submission of entries is April 30, 2013

Last year, FIT Uganda, a business development and consulting company won the overall Communication Innovation award and another award, the Rural e-services award for their E-marketing information alert platform that provides market information to small holder farmers, traders, processors and consumers using the mobile phone.