” For Being Nominated, You’re Already a Winner ” Omojuwa tells #TFAA2016 Nominees

The highly anticipated biggest youth award in Africa ” The Future Awards Africa ”, which is the 11th edition was held yesterday in Lagos.

Several individuals that shape their industry in one way or the order were honours yesterday, but Nigerians are still reacting to the outcome of the winners.

Joining theme to reacts to the winners list for The Future Awards Africa 2016, is noted blogger, social media activists and politico commentator J.J Omojuwa who took his Instagram early this morning to share some thoughts on awards, nominations and eventual winners.

I want to address an issue that comes up every year about The Future Awards. I should do a blog post but this is how the Spirit has led me to do it. When you are nominated for ANY award, whether you win it or not is not the issue, that you have served humanity to the point of being recognized is the issue. So, to those who were nominated and didn’t win, you won when you already got nominated. You were already called out out of many. Someone goes home with the plaque in each category but every nominee must learn to go back home with their heads held high because they are a generation’s honourables. To those who expected to be nominated but weren’t, don’t join those who make up conspiracy theories and stuff looking to throw up negative energy. Not being nominated doesn’t mean you aren’t doing great work, it just means those running this particular award haven’t noticed you yet or they had a lot of people doing just as much great work. No system sees everyone, even the FG doesn’t know some of us exist. So, you don’t exist for the validation of awards and recognitions, you exist for significance, to make your essence a telling difference in our world. You don’t need an award to know you are doing great work. But if you think you really do need an award to feel good, apply to an award organization and tell them about your work. But really and truly, just focus on what you do, evolve and continue to do good. Rewards are natural, they always come. And to the winners, congratulations. Winning this award is great, it is like winning an age grade competition. The award is not celebrating you because of what you have become, it is celebrating you for what you are becoming. Don’t get it twisted, you have only just started. Make sure we see you do even greater things in the future because the award you just won became history as soon as you received it. To all of us, let us celebrate one another. Let us push one another. A simple “you are doing a great job” is the difference between someone giving up and the person gaining renewed strength to do better. Africa needs us and we can’t make change happen if we don’t see these things the right away. #TFAA2016 #ShapingTheFuture

A photo posted by JJ. Omojuwa (@omojuwa) on Dec 19, 2016 at 12:53am PST

Though, the outcome that inspire this epistle is not known to the general public, but there are speculation that one nominee or two who did not quite agree with the choice of winner in their category. We are yet to come across anyone who has publicly shared a differing opinion about the winners but this post by Omojuwa will put us on our toes as we look out for such.