Vincent Kolo has been declared the winner of the $50,000 Nefertiti grand prize for creativity at the maiden edition of Africa Integration Day.
According to a statement by the organisers of the event, Mr Kolo won the Nefertiti Prize with his artwork ‘The Cords of Yesterday’.
The grand prize is awarded “for work that passionately highlights the contemporary quest for Africa to learn from its past, take charge of its present and build its own unique vision of a united, prosperous, future,” the statement says.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo presented the cash award to the winner at a virtual ceremony held during the week to mark the end of the inaugural edition of Boma of Africa Festival, jointly organised by the African Union Commission and the AfroChampions Initiative.
Other categories of the prize won by participants at the event include $15,000 prize for Social Justice, $10,000 Prize for African Renaissance and $5,000 Prize for Literary Excellence.
The Nefertiti prize was sponsored by Afreximbank and Commercial International Bank.
The chairman of AfroChampions executive committee, Edem Adzogenu, commended winners in the major categories of the event.
“We would like to sincerely congratulate all the winners on their fantastic achievements, and for creating artworks that speak to Africa’s unity and future,” Adzogenu said.
“It has been wonderful seeing government and the private sector come together from across the continent for the first Boma of Africa Festival to celebrate integration and the passion and creativity that will bring it to us.”
AU’s Trade and Industry Commissioner, Albert Muchanga, said the first ever Africa Integration Day was made possible through collaborative efforts.
The Africa Integration Day, which is celebrated every July 7, was initiated in 2019 during AU’s summit on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to popularise economic integration across the continent as a lever of inclusive sustainable development.
The virtual festival was launched this year by the AU and Afrochampions, a pan-African business leadership network, to broaden the Africa Integration Day celebration into a month-long event, starting July 1.
The festival, dubbed ‘The Boma of Africa’ is a series of insightful convening with creative arts challenge to drive the ‘African Integration’ agenda, exploring themes such as “African Unity is about Difference’, ‘African Science is Universal Science’, Africa’s Future is in its Past’, and Globalisation is Africa’s friend’, said a statement by the organisers of the event.
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