The 17th Kampala International FICTS Festival 2023 came to an end, at a colourful event held at Tal Cottages and graced by The Chairman Special Returnees Association – Mr. Victor Musinguzi Bagowabo.

Entries from France, Ukraine, Sweden, and Uganda out competed the rest to emerge winners. Two out of five Uganda’s Entries merged winners:-

  1. “The Goal” produced by FUFA Media Services emerged winner in the TV Football Category.
  2. “Uganda Cranes Nivana Water Ad-Promo” produced by Crown Beverages Uganda Ltd emerged winner in the Sport Advert Category.

FUFA Media Services & Crown Beverages Uganda Ltd were awarded  Certificates of Merit and Awards by the promoter Dr. Dean Kibirige which were handed to them by the Chief Guest – Mr. Victor Musinguzi Bagowabo.

Other winning productions included:

  1. “Olympic Stories Breaking Barriers” – which emerged winner in the Olympic Spirit/Games Category.
  2. “Usyk Next Fight” – which emerged winner in the Sport & Society Category.
  3. “Dunk or Die”- which emerged winner in the Sport Documentary Category

The 7th APL Mentorship Award, was given to Mr. Ben Jermaine Osipo Egesa, a gentleman who has grown in the field of Sports journalism to emulate   the late Dr. Andrew Patrick Luwandagga and has gone ahead to impress at both local and international level as below:

  1. Joined UBC (Magic 100Fm) in 2011 till April 2023
  2. Was awarded Magic 100Fm Best Commentator of the year 2015 by The Late Dr. Andrew Patrick Luwandaga
  3. Moderated the National Cross Country Championships at Kololo 2017
  4. Commentated the Africa Heavyweight championship between Shafik Kiwanuka & Thamsanga Dube graced by the World Boxing Federation President Howard Goldberg Ivor in 2019.
  5. Moderated and Commentated the First Ever Armed Forces Appreciation Motocross Championship in 2019
  6. Lead Commentator for the two seasons of the Uganda Boxing Champions League
  7. Was the Official Commentator of the NSSF KAVC International Volleyball Tournament 2023
  8. Has had stints at UBC (Magic 100 FM), Vision Group (Urban TV) & currently with Next Media Services with NBS Sport & Sanyuka Prime.
  9. Lead Commentator of the StarTimes Uganda Premier League for 2 seasons running on Sanyuka (Prime)
  10. Was invited by CAF as the only Commentator from East Africa to cover the CHAN 2022 tournament in Algeria.

The Inaugural “Great Contributor to Sport (GCS) Award” was won by Mr. Hamis Kiggundu – because of his commitment and effort in re-building and developing one of Uganda’s iconic Football infrastructure (The Nakivubo War Memorial Stadium) to world class level.

In his remarks the Chief Guest – Mr. Victor Musinguzi Bagowabo, saluted FICTS Uganda Organizing Team for maintaining the gesture of recognizing works for Sports producers and he also congratulated all winners plus participating entries from different parts of the world and encouraged Ugandan Sports Producers to increase their participation in the next year’s Edition.

Among other notables present at the closing ceremony was Mr. Sebanenya George – Don and Lecturer at YMCA University Uganda.