Do you know an individual, family or organisation that has preserved an endangered aspect of cultural heritage? It could be a historical site, a historical building, an endangered language, knowledge, practice, skill or tradition.
Nominate them for the 5th National Heritage Awards!
A special Heritage Press grant will be given to an outstanding journalist who has consistently reported about cultural heritage issues in Uganda. To win this grant, journalists are required to send a brief for a short project that can be implemented to promote reporting on cultural heritage in the media.
The National Heritage Awards is part of the activities to commemorate World Culture Day 2023.
Deadline to submit nominations and project briefs (for journalists) is 15th April 2023. Nominations should include your address, the address of the nominee, their contacts (where necessary) what they have done to preserve and promote cultural heritage. Nominations should be emailed to ccfu@crossculturalfoundation.or.ug
The National Cultural Heritage Awards
In 2013, CCFU initiated the National Heritage Awards to provide a missing incentive – social recognition, publicity and money – through a Heritage Prize awarded to individuals and organisations for their outstanding contribution to preserving and promoting our heritage. So far, eighteen awards have been made. This has now become a bi-annual activity.
Background to the awards
Whether tangible (buildings, landscapes, monuments) or intangible (skills, crafts, traditions) our heritage is not effectively protected, even when listed. There is little incentive to preserve it. Historical buildings are for instance vanishing because the economic motive that prevails is one of quick profits (e.g. a cheap concrete structure), while our social and cultural norms go unrecognised.
The awarding process
The Foundation solicits nominations from the general public and heritage experts. An independent jury reviews entries and selects heritage champions who are later awarded at a grand ceremony. The bi-annual awarding ceremony is well publicised and provides a centre for discussion by cultural enthusiasts, government, media and the academia on issues relating to cultural heritage preservation in Uganda.
Your role
You are welcome to make a contribution to the Heritage awards: preserve our nation’s heritage, nominate outstanding efforts for recognition in the heritage awards, express your interest in the selection of the jury and you can make a financial contribution to this process.