Skip to main content

Countdown to Mwape Peer Awards


One of the biggest and most prestigious events by Zambians in the diaspora events will be held on 13 October 2012 in New York City. Over the last two years that the ceremony has been running, seventeen Zambians have been conferred with the Mwape Peer Awards.

Initiated in 2010 by James and Ruth Mwape, the idea to have Peer awards was conceived by the couple who had just moved from New York to New Jersey. After establishing their website www.mwape.com which includes a section dubbed brain drain, the Mwape’s begun listing the Zambians who were in the diaspora. The idea was to establish a list of accomplished Zambians and to appear on that list one had to have a minimum of a Master’s Degree. The list later culminated into a book that was published entitled ‘Mwape Who’s who among Zambians’.

 The Mwape’s went on to pioneer the first diaspora online radio show which featured Zambians from all sectors including politicians. The diaspora voice has been running for five years and its listenership includes both Zambians and non-Zambians.

Further, the Mwape’s identified the need to come up with an initiative that would acknowledge the many people that were making a difference. It was observed that most of the people that were honored in Zambia were well known people such as politicians and musicians. The Mwape Peer Awards would bridge the gap and recognize the unsung heroes and the recognition would be made by their peers.

The Awards are called the Mwape Peer Awards because they are sponsored by the Mwape family. According to James Mwape, there are a lot of ‘Peer Awards’ and the name makes the Award distinguishable. The Awards have 11 Categories and the winners are selected by their peers, these are people of a similar field as the award category.  

The Inaugural award was held in 2010 in Washington DC and seven Awards were presented. The subsequent ceremony in 2011 was held in New York with 10 winners awarded. A total of 11 Awards will be presented at the 2012 ceremony. Financial support was made towards the ceremony by other Zambians including Mbumwae Suba Smith, Mwizenge Tembo and Evans Phiri.  Mbumwae has continued to play a pivotal role in the organizing the subsequent awards both technically and financially.

James Mwape pointed out that some most of the people that had won the Mwape Peer Awards later won other awards. He cited Crisis a Zambian hip hop musician won the Music in 2010 later won an American Award for his Music. Gershom Njovu won the journalism award in 2011 and later won another excellence award in the UK.  “This is a clear manifestation of how the Mwape Peer Awards Discover and expose the talent. That is the purpose to show the different kind of talent Zambia has  and to promote the people.”

The Mwape Peer Awards are open to everyone. Nominations opens between February and March running until July. Zambians from anywhere around the world can nominated and be nominated.  For details on the http://www.mwape.com/2012_Awards.html

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tales from the Hood: Menses on display

The Hood will definitely be the end of me mwe! So I was in the hood trying to locate Bana K when I saw some commotion across the road. In true hood style I saw a steady crowd growing as everyone shameless rushed to Bana Yuz house. You may recall a few blogs ago I shared a story of the couple who lost their daughter and in grief the Husband threatened one of his in-laws saying he was going to report them to the dead child so that the child’s ghost could haunt him for disturbing him. Anyways that’s the couple that was responsible for drawing the fast growing crowd. This  couple is one that is well known for stirring drama. Bashi Yu,  as he is fondly called is the hero of the women's gossip club where his wife is a member. He usually buy Chat beer for them to drink as they gossip but he usually snaps at the slightest irritation. Whenever this happens he takes it to the streets where he does a dress down of these women. Today it appeared the person that made him loose h

Pastor gets publicly humiliated

Tales from the Hood I remember attending a burial at Chingwere and y'all know that attending a burial at that cemetery is enough to make you cry when you look at the state of affairs, anyway i digress. So tenze kumalilo yaba neighbour and for some reason there was no church service yet she went to church every Sunday. Oh i remember she hadnt remitted sufficient funds for the church book offering anyway her family could not afford to pay the arrears hence the church would not accept her as a member worthy of a funeral church service. Fast Foward, at the cemetery one of the relatives came with a Charismatic Pastor form a church that was not mentioned who preached the word in such convincing tones. The message was just right and from the looks of things every one was somehow touched as even the most hyper hoodlums quietened down and paid attention to the sermon. As we were all getting carried away with the sermon and entering the second heaven in spirit the pastor

Of TRADITIONS AND RITES OF PASSAGE

By Susan Mwape  So I had the opportunity of going to what we call in my part of the world a “Chezela”. This is simply a word derived from the term ku cheza which means to chat so chezela means an endless chat that occurs over night into the wee hours of the morning. In Zambia where I come from the moment you hear people saying am going to a chezela, it is synonymous with a series of events that occur overnight by and among women initiating a young lady in a rite of passage. Often this lady would be in the process of getting married and after undergoing a series of counseling sessions, ranging from wellbeing, healthcare, motherhood and home management by a team of women led by one called Bana Chimbusa. The Chezela is the epitome of all that she learns but brings in a diverse group of women of different ethnic groups who each share what they know with the bride to be. It is usually a joyful celebration that marks the end of her initiation into married life. It is charact