By Lamin Njie
The vice chairperson of the Awards Committee of The Fatu Network Heroes Awards said on Saturday her committee was looking for people who best fit the criteria for the various categories that are up for grabs.
“I don’t believe we have any politician but we weren’t looking for politicians. We were looking for people that best fit the criteria,” Neneh Cham told reporters at a press conference held at The Fatu Network offices on Kairaba Avenue.
The TFN Heroes Awards is established by The Fatu Network, the leading online news provider in The Gambia with the aim of recognizing and celebrating Gambians who have offered invaluable service to the country and to their communities.
The committee shortlisted 43 candidates of individuals and organisations for the 2019 Awards out of 1527 entries, the chairperson of the committee Fatou Amirah Mambouray had earlier said.
She explained: “We had a total of 1527 nominations. The diaspora was responsible for 51.8 percent of those nominations and The Gambia 48.2 percent of those nominations. And going into the categories, from the greatest to the least, we had Exemplary Youth 26.2 percent (400 nominations); We have the Philanthropist of the Year which was 14.4 percent of the nominations (219);
“Man of the Year (195 nominations); the Green Award (181 nominations); Woman of the Year (154 nominations); Agricultural Leader (108 nominations); Education Prize for Excellence (85); Health Servant of the Year (70); Diaspora Engagement (62); Iconic Gambian which our Posthumous Award (45) and our TrailBlazer Award (7).”
Pastor Forbes a member of the committee on how the candidates were nominated said there was a list of criteria put out which was specific for each category.
“Fortunately a lot of people answered according to the category requirements,” he said.
The general public would now have the opportunity to vote the nominees of their choice from Monday, 24 February to Sunday, 8 March, 2020 via Africell text message and the Awards online platform (tfnheroes.com).
