By Yikii Kaleb

Arua

Federick Dramadri is a 28 year old journalism enthusiast who started off as a community reporter for Radio Pacis in 2019. He is currently pursuing a diploma in Journalism at Metropolitan University as he carries on with reporting for Radio Pacis and West Nile TV.

He has interested himself in pursing stories that other journalist fear to take on. His efforts paid off last year when he was declared the winner in the Business category reporting by ACME before scooping this year’s Energy reporting award. Federick takes us through his journey and motivation for hard work with Kaleb Yiiki
 
Q: How does it feel to win the annual African Center for Media Excellency (ACME) Awards Consecutively?
A: Winning the award was an excitement to me and also it gave me hope that I can still do much better as a journalist and also to dream bigger. I look forward to becoming a professor in this field of Journalism. I dream of working with Bigger National and international Media Houses so that I realize the benefit of practicing Journalism nationally and internationally. 

Q: What was the award winning story and in which category did it fall?
A: Winning an award comes with several characteristics, one of them is what the story is all about, and how relevant is the story in the relation to the categories you place it. If you place your story in the wrong category, there is no way the Judges will Shift it to the right category.  The story that I submitted is titled “Brief case companies infiltrating Uganda’s Mining Industry”, at first I thought to place it in two different categories one of them was looking at the business aspect, and the second one was the petroleum, energy and Mineral Development.   

Q: How much time did you give in to follow this award winning Story?
A: I did a lot of research on websites and got copies of Company documents about the Company mining Gold in Terego. I also visited Uganda Registration Services Bureau to check on the eligibility of the Mining Company. More so, I employed investigative techniques of moving to the place where the offices of the Gold Mining Companies are said to be situated according to the Company Registration Documents including travelling to where the Mining Sites in Odupi Sub county in Terego District and looking at all that they did gave me a better view of constructing the title of the Story. It actually took me three months to complete the story for a complete and balanced feature story to be aired.

Q: What gave you advantage over the other Contestants?
A: This year’s awards attracted a lot of entries. I have no idea of how many submitted stories under Petroleum, Energy and Minerals Sector but at last only three of us were shortlisted.  It was quite threatening. When I looked at the shortlist, I realized I was shortlisted with Journalists working with bigger media Houses like Ubuntu Times and NTV Uganda; all renown media Houses. At first, it was very intimidating for me because I Looked at my self-coming from  a small media house like Radio Pacis and more so, from West Nile, competing with people who have made Names in television, people who have experience in practicing journalism for years! So I looked at the Title of their Stories and went on line to review their stories.

Q: So as you viewed that story, what was lacking in the Story?
A: In my Story, I clearly stipulated with evidence that the Companies operating the Mining Industries were truly Briefcase Companies. These Companies were not on Ground; they didn’t have Physical Addresses, they were kind of like having mis-matching information as compared to what I obtained from Uganda Registration Services Bureau. More so where they came to operate, most of the leaders were not aware of their existence apart from the Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) and the District Internal Security Officers (DISOs ; these being all aware but could not disclose and that was my point of entry for this story. I realized that my competitors did not have much focus. One story on how artisanal mining is contributing to water pollution in Lake Victoria and I realized this author of the story at some point was off track and even up to the end of the story she could not reveal exactly how artisanal mining is contributing to water pollution in Lake Victoria so I just knew I was going to get the Award.  

Q: What always motivates you to pursue your Stories however difficult the story sources may be?

• From Childhood, I didn’t know that I was doing journalism because we will break those old tapes and connect the ends together with Match boxes and then talk so that your Friend hears you from the other end through the tape. When I joined Secondary School in Maracha Secondary School, I joined the School Writers Club where I was the general secretary and the Chief News Editor. We were behind the school Cartoons and writing stories about Students who will go and get Second Round (SR) meals and write about students who liked staying in Dark Corners relating at nightand also write about Teachers administration and School events.

Q: What opportunities come with the Award?

• Apart from the pride that comes with the awards is that I have been given full bursary to study Diploma in Journalism at metropolitan International University, 1.5 Million Shillings from African Center for Media Excellency (ACME), more so Parliament of Uganda Gave award winners one Fully paid up week Holiday at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

Q: Personally what do these awards mean to you?

• Anyone can become someone and achieve anything in Life through Hard Work and Dedication.

Q: What message do you have for the other Practicing Journalists?
Consultation, Dedication to work, thorough Researching and not only focus on so and so said this or that since there are so many things people say but they are not really actual things and if you don’t research, how do you cross check facts and truth? Do not be desperate looking for petty things like Transport refunds, food and seeking other favors. I strongly recommend Collaborative Journalism.

COVER PHOTO: Courtesy Photo of ACME: Federick receiving his certificate after winning