Awesome! BellaNaija’s Uche Pedro, Amina Mohammed, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Lupita Nyong’o Nominated for the 2017 New African Woman Awards | See Full List

The New African Woman magazine has released the nominees’ list for the second edition of its New African Woman Awards.

We are so excited with this list because it’s another opportunity to celebrate women who are making a positive impact in their various fields of endeavour… and because our Founder/CEO Uche Pedro was nominated in the New African Woman in Media category. YAY!

Uche and CNN‘s Zain Ejiofor Asher were among the nominees in that category.

Chosen in 12 categories, 68 groundbreaking women made the final list which will now be adjudicated by a special panel of judges, and the winners in each category will be announced on April 12, 2017 at a Gala Dinner in Dakar, Senegal.

The second edition of the New African Woman Forum (NAW Forum) is scheduled to hold in Dakar, Senegal, on the 12th and 13th of April 2017.

The new UN Deputy Secretary-General, Nigeria’s Amina J. Mohammed, nominated in two categories – Politics and Woman of the Year, Executive Director of UN Women, South Africa’s Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Somalia’s first female presidential candidate Fadumo Dayib, Gambia’s doyen of democratic change, Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, South African former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, first female FIFA Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura (Senegal) are some of the names that made the final list from the thousands of nominations received.

Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o, South African Olympic gold medallist Caster Semenya, Nigerian comedy prodigy Emmanuella Samuel also made the nominees’ list.

Organised by the pan-African bi-monthly, New African Woman magazine, the Awards – which celebrate and honour exceptional African women who have made a positive impact and contributions in their communities and the continent at large, in the past 12 months – will take place on the eve of the New African Woman Forum, which takes place at Dakar’s Terrou-Bi Hotel on April 13 2017.

The New African Woman Awards and Forum, first held in London in March last year, under the theme “Changing The Game”, were born from the ethos that launched New African Woman magazine nine years ago: to boldly and positively highlight, share and represent African women’s issues, on the premise that women are an indispensable element in Africa’s growth story, and to celebrate the women contributing to that change.

See the full list of nominees below:

New Africa Woman in Business

Jennifer Riria – Kenya

Madjiguene Sock – Senegal

Dr Nathalie Beatrice Chinje – Cameroon

Salwa Idrissi Akhannouch – Morocco

Tabitha Karanja – Kenya

Phuti Mahanyele – South Africa

New African Woman in Politics

Fadumo Q. Dayib – Somalia

Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang – Gambia

Nayé Anna Bathily – Senegal

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka – South Africa

Monique Mukuna – DR Congo

Amina J. Mohammed

Nigeria New African Woman in Education

Noëlla Coursaris Musunka – DR Congo

Oley Dibba-Wadda – Côte d’Ivoire

Graça Machel – Mozambique

Tsitsi Masiyiwa – Zimbabwe

Prof Unoma Ndili Okorafor – Nigeria

Rapelang Rabana – South Africa

New African Woman in Science

Anne Wanjohi – Kenya

Prof Aminata Sall Diallo – Senegal

Dr Helena Ndume – Namibia

Jessica O. Mathews – Nigeria

Dr Ola Orekunrin – Nigeria

Dr Tebello Nyokong – South Africa

New African Woman in Finance

Binta Touré Ndoye – Togo

Bola Adesola – Nigeria

Lamyaa Gadelhak – Egypt

Stella Kilonzo – Kenya

Viola Llewellyn – Cameroon

Evelyne Tall-Daouda – Senegal

New African Woman in Agriculture

Mame Khary Diene – Senegal

Maria Andrade – Mozambique

Kambou Lydie Rachel – Côte d’Ivoire

Rahab Kariuki – Kenya

Rose Funja – Tanzania

Tumusiime Rhoda Peace – Uganda

New African Woman in Media

Amira Yahyaoui – Tunisia

Eloïne Barry – Guinea

Gina Din-Kariuki – Kenya

Uche Pedro – Nigeria (YAY!)

Zain Ejiofor Asher – Nigeria

Rokhaya Diallo – Senegal

New African Woman in Sports

Caster Semenya – South Africa

Diknesh Tamiru – Ethiopia

Fatma Samoura – Senegal

Isha Tejan-Cole Johansen – Sierra Leone

Tegla Loroupe – Kenya

Vivian Cheruiyot – Kenya

New African Woman in Arts & Culture

Aïssa Dione – Senegal

Esther Mahlangu – South Africa

Lupita Nyong’o – Kenya

Olfa Terras Rambourg – Tunisia

Sophie Zinga – Senegal

Joan Okorodudu – Nigeria

New African Woman in Civil Society

Theresa Kachindamoto – Malawi

Francine Furaha Muyumba – DR Congo

Hadiza Bala Usman – Nigeria

Salimata Lam – Mauritania

Theo Sowa – Ghana

Zainab Hawa Bangura – Sierra Leone

New African Woman on the Rise

Botlhale Boikanyo – South Africa

Emmanuella Samuel – Nigeria

Rebeca Gyumi – Tanzania

Ndeye Fatou Njie – Gambia

Vivian Onano – Kenya

Sonia Mezzour – Morocco

Warsan Shire – Somalia

Jaha Dukureh – The Gambia

New African Woman of the Year

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Nigeria

Fadumo Dayib – Somalia

Fatoumatta Jallow-Tambajang  – Gambia

Madjiguene Sock – Senegal

Thuli Madonsela – South Africa

Amina J. Mohammed – Nigeria