On the 21st August 2009, the first Beverley Nambozo Annual Poetry Award ceremony was held and graced with the presence of the Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Uganda, as the Chief Guest. On a beautiful night out under the open skies, the true stars of the evening were the poetry gems revealed to the public.

The Award is the brain-child of Beverley Nambozo, a poetry gem in her own right, with a passion for helping young writers, particularly women to develop their talents. The Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award will be an annual event. Every woman with a creative spirit, should have a chance at empowering themselves with the pen.

Rt. Hon Rebecca Kadaga, in her keynote address urged the corporate world to sponsor such innovative and educative events. She also said that these literary awards should be placed on Uganda’s national calendar.

The top three awards went to Ms. Sophia Brenda Alal who won a cash prize of $100 for “The Rebel Fell”, Ms. Catherine Kemigisha won a cash prize of $150 for “Better at Dawn” and the very first winner of the Beverley Nambozo Annual Poetry Award is Ms. Lillian Aujo who won a cash prize of $250 for “Soft Tonight”.

Ms. Aujo is a student of Law at Makerere University. Her winning poem, won the hearts of the judges who judged each poem anonymously.

The next call for submissions for next year begins in November. The awards target Uganda women who have not yet published a book and are residing in Uganda. The award ceremony attracted over 150 guests from academia, publishing houses, writers and poets and friends of poetry.

Beverley's aim is to have winning poems published in an anthology. She appreciates all those that submitted and looks forward to more for the next awards.

For a copy of the winning poems, please write to ugpoetryaward(at)aol.com or call +256-78-276 4335 or +256-77-960 6977.