Eutelsat in conjunction with DStv are set to hosts the 7th edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards in Kampala on 12 April 2018 to announce continental winners. Uganda has produced the most winners since the competition’s inception and is hoping to achieve a similar feat by dominating the competition on home soil.
MultiChoice and Eutelsat have once again chosen to collaborate with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli is set to lead the judging panel who will convene in Uganda on April 11th. Nespoli has an illustrious career spanning stints at the European Astronaut Centre (ESA/EAC) and NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston before being selected as an astronaut by the Italian Space Agency to fly as an ESA astronaut. In 2017, for his third mission in space named Vita, Nespoli spent 139 days on the ISS during which he completed more than 60 experiments. Before that, he crewed on the 2007 Discovery shuttle mission and spent over five months in space in 2011 aboard the International Space Station (ISS) where he was responsible for a range of science and technology experiments and educational activities.
Nespoli will be assisted by a panel of industry experts namely; Prof. Funso Falade, Faculty of Engineering Dean, University of Lagos; Mr. Michael Niyitegeka, Country Manager, ICDL Africa; Mr. Patrice Paquot, Deputy Regional Vice-President for Sub-Saharan Africa, Eutelsat as well as Ms. Patricia Kichoncho, Operations Manager, MultiChoice Uganda.
The overall winning entries will receive the following prizes:
• Overall Essay Award – A trip for the winning student and their parent/legal guardian to Eutelsat in France and attendance of a live rocket launch in French Guiana.
• Overall Poster Award – A trip for the winning student and their parent/legal guardian to the MultiChoice offices and the South African Space Agency at Hartbeesthoek.
The schools attended by the overall award winners will be rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, television, state-of-the-art PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Package.
