Winners of the Zimbabwe Achievers Award held on Saturday
By Misheck Mberi – The Zimbabwean Achievers Awards ceremony which was hosted in the lush Mermaid Conference and Events Centre in the heart of London was a success in terms of bringing together Zimbabweans who have excelled in their respective fields.
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The turn out and the atmosphere for the event was good and despite what many considered an excessive cost to spend on one night, the number of people who attended the event where a lot.
As a foreign based Zimbabwean, I feel this event has been successful in terms of promoting the message that the event organisers wanted to spread out. It has been motivational because of the setup and living conditions here in the UK are not very sociable due to many things like work, studies and social interest so it is very easy for a person to distance themselves away from the African community and settle for something less than what they are capable of achieving.
Looking at the nominees for the ZAA awards, it is astonishing to see how many Zimbabweans are doing quite well in both the UK and Zimbabwe. I feel that there is a lot more that this award has to offer for Zimbabweans and perhaps to the rest of Africa because we are living in globally connected planet so it is now very hard not to notice what your neighbour are doing.
The only disappointing thing about the event was the failure of some of the nominees to allocate a representative to collect their prize in their absence in case they win and in some cases it is understandable that some of the nominees where based abroad but for those based within UK there was no excuse. It is disappointing when some of the people failed to collect their awards or allocate a representative to speak on their behalf and yet they have propelled in their work with the backbone and assistance of the Zimbabwean community but yet they overlook such events that help to inspire others to follow their footsteps.
The ZAA organisers have promised this to be an annual event and I am sure that this project is only going to grow bigger with each year.
I would like to thank Conrad Mwanza of CM Events Consultancy who devoted his time and resources to bring us Zimbabweans in the UK an annual event to look forward to and also giving us a night to remember.
Thanks goes to Quartz Marketing who where involved in the strategic marketing and promotion of the event . Other companies who helped to make this event happen are Association for African Owned Enterprises (UK), Insight Move Group, tim2Soxx Entertainment, text.co.zw and the many other companies that I have not mentioned.
And special thanks goes to the event Sponsors MoneyGram Money Transfer and Econet Mobile for helping the Zimbabwean community in the UK.
Some of the award winners are as follows,
Community Organisation of the Year A charitable organisation that has worked and campaigned tireless to deliver a positive impact to the Zimbabwean Community – Vimba
Community Champion An individual who have taken upon themselves to campaign tirelessly to mprove the Zimbabwean community – Vanessa Babbage
Photographer of the year Nominee would have excelled in capturing high impact pictures in any of the following categories wildlife, fashion, landscape, lifestyle and Events – Christopher Scott – Scotty Photography
Fashion Designer Nominee would have demonstrated designs that would have had an impact in the Zimbabwean community – Terri ‘Gunz’ Mahati
Academic Award This award recognizes the individual who best exemplifies an advocate for professionalism and presenting the best public image. Will also have served as a model of dedication, enthusiasm, and leadership. SHELLY TO EXPAND ON DESCRIPTION – Martha Chinouya
Male Artist of the Year Nominees should demonstrate outstanding musicianship. Preferably on a variety of instruments but vocal/singers are also included – Bkay and Kazz
Gospel Artist of the year Dynamic group/singer that has dominated the marketplace and has taken gospel music to another level – Obert Mazivisa
DJ of the Year Nominee incorporates all the elements of showmanship into his DJ performances and takes entertainment to another level – King Alfred
Music Video of the year Best breakthrough video with the most airplay and impact on viewer by a well thought out production – Tinashe – ”Zambezi”
