Ghana National Youth Achievers Awards 2012 - The Winners

The very first Ghana National Youth Achievers Awards (NYAA) were held under the auspices of President John Dramani Mahama on October 25 this year. Congratulations to all the winners, some of which I am proud to know personally. I already reacted to the whole NYAA, but let's dig into the winners proper. Because just giving you the list is boring. If you wanna learn some more, say #morevim!

Sarkodie and Becca won for Music. BET Award wins, Channel O nominations, Museke Awards wins, they deserved it. Jackie Appiah won for Performing Arts, she's not the fairest Ghanaian, so she must be doing very well as an actress because of her acting skills :-p. She's still cute too, those IPMC billboards do her some good justice. Jackie's best ever casting was in The Perfect Picture, arguably one of Ghana's best ever movies. The director of that movie, Shirley Frimpong-Manso won for film. The Fashion winner is surprising as it is refreshing, Fred Deegbe's Heel the World won (Ashesi bred). First met Fred at TEDxDzorwulu, he had an awesome story around HTW. As I'm working with him on an exciting project now, I have even more respect for him. 
Anas Aremeyaw Anas simply had to be a winner for Media Excellence. The day I realize what his face looks like, I will rejoice. Watch this Youtube video! He was co-awarded with reigning Ghana journalist of the year, Manesseh Azure Awuni. Love how he has many articles on GhanaWeb. Michael Kweku Kesse Somuah won for Literary Arts. In his impressive CV, RLG's Roland Agambire is one of his referees alongside Atukwei Okai. Good company. Most Presecans and Odadee might know of Bernard Akoi Jackson, one of the best artists of our time. He won for Visual Arts together with Ignace Hego, the CEO of 4Syte. Insert 4Syte Music Video Awards Ceremony Event Visual joke here. 

Eunice Ogbogu won for Business Excellence for her work with Eugo Terrano, which is a highly rated construction firm in Ghana. Pretty neat! Abena Asomaning Antwi of the Angel-Zoe Foundation which works with women and juvenile prisoners won for Advocacy. Jerry Harrison of Legon's Chemistry Department and Kwadwo Asamoah Kusi of Noguchi also won for Science. Jemima Kugblenu, arguably the youngest Chartered Accountant in Ghana, won for Academic Excellence. Her co-winner was Emmanuel Boafo Twum whose story I heard on CITI FM's Breakfast Show recently after the awards. Apparently, he was discovered by CITI FM's Richard Skyy who helped him go to Legon where he graduated with a 3.97 GPA. Emmanuel hails from Nkroful just like Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Watch out for him.

I met the ICT winner, DreamOval's Derrydean Dadzie, in 2004 when I went to speak to students at the Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Excellence. My encounter with him made me respect Patrick Awuah very much and rate Ashesi extremely highly. When he had our first Barcamp Ghana in December 2008, Derrydean was one of our 4 panelists under 26. Kwabena Danso is my mate from Presec and he's been making waves with his Yonso Project. We had discussed earlier this year how he wasn't being recognized adequately for his work and this award must surely be a watershed moment for him. He's also been featured on the marvelous program, Airtel Touching Lives. He also came to Barcamp Kumasi in 2011. 

Stephen Appiah is generally seen as Ghana's best ever captain and he won for Leadership. This should encourage us all to StepApp. We have a leadership problem in Ghana, maybe we should look to football captains for answers? Is Dede Ayew winning this award next year? :-) The Black Maidens football team won for Sports as they won Ghana's first medal in women's soccer at the U-17 World Cup recently. Another sports person awarded was Ajara Mohammed who won Special Awards with Farida Bedwei, my co-winner for the inaugural IDEAS Awards. Ajara, a 'disabled' power cyclist, won gold medals at the All Africa Games in 2011. Farida is tres awesome, read about her bestseller, Definition of a Miracle. 

Mike Nyinaku, CEO of Beige Capital, and recent Young Entrepreneur of the award winner, won for Financial Excellence. Ejisu based Dr. Frederick Osei Owusu won for Health. Young Professionals winners were Isaac Agyiri Danso, a Chartered Accountant and Patricia Mawuli who's Ghana's first female pilot and is involved in training more. Solomon Sarkodie was honoured for Entrepreneurship and Development while Gideon Agyare (for his inventions in alternative energy) won for Invention and innovation. 

Mike Nyinaku & Eunice Ogbogu went home with the most prestigious awards, adding Youth Personality of the Year gong to their other awards. #Youknowwhattimeitis? Like Mike Nyinaku himself said, "It's our time, Ghana". Let's go on out and achieve. #Morevim!