Future Awards Nominees

Redstrat, the organisers of The Future Awards, has released the list of nominees for next year's grand ceremony.

Redstrat said the list contains the names of the brightest and the best young 200 Nigerians in the past one year. Among them are Tosyn Bucknor, Toyosi Akerele, Emmanuel Etim,  Mohammed Ahmed-Shaibu and others in the Best Use of Advocacy category.

The most coveted award of the year- Young Person of the Year was very competitive with personalities like Bukola Elemide known as Asa, Toyin Bello, Yagazie Chukwumerije, Louise Priddy, Oluchi Orlandi, Michael Ajere popularly called Don Jazzy, Cobhams Asuquo and Funke Bucknor-Obruthe; all crossing their fingers to clinch the award on 17th and 18th of January.

Rachel Ogbu, staff writer, Newswatch Magazine, with seven others were nominated in the Journalist of the Year category. Reuben Abati, chairman, The Guardian Editorial Board, commended the efforts of the organisers. “Their work is more than impressive… it is inspiring,” he said.

Some other individuals that made the list in various categories include: Dbanj, 9ice, Mercy Johnson, OC Ukeje, Jumoke Verissimo, Teju Babyface, Alexander Yangs, Mikel Obi and Fatima Mohammed.

After a country-wide tours, the organisers of The Future Awards headed for the UK for a series of presentations designed to spread the word about Nigeria’s biggest youth event.  Emilia Asim-Ita, the award’s public relations director, said the preparations of the event was world class. “We are extremely proud of ourselves. We are never tired of stating that we are making history, doing something that is pacesetting in the history of any award process in Nigeria," she said.

Ejike, the Funky Professor

Bob Ejike, Nigerian professor, actor and music artiste, has released his third album titled Bob Ejike Recharged. The hip hop/R and B album has tracks like Where Did it Go, the Danny Wilson Mix, Give Me featuring Dr Sudir, an East African rapper and Living in the Past Ivann Styles and other songs like Higher, which feature comical duo - Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme fondly called Aki and Pawpaw was recorded at Probe Studios, Milan and Kampala.

There is also Nambi, a Makossa/Soukous love song performed in English and Luganda, which is the main language in Uganda.

Ejike, who runs the Foundation for Performing Arts in Kampala, released his first music album No Vacancy, during his National Youth Service. The album had addressed the problem of unemployment in Africa. He recorded his second album Checkin Out in Milan where he also became the first black scholar and lecturer at Oxford University College.

Ejike, an associate professor and director of publicity in Milan, has criss-crossed Italy, Uganda and Nigeria producing, directing and acting about 40 Nigerian films, and dozens of musical videos including Tears in Heaven, Sharon Stone 2, Wasted Years and the Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Basi and Company.

Ejike promises music lovers a fun-filled christmas as his album hits stores on December 1.

World’s Most Expensive Book

Fresh from publication in Italy, a 62-pound handmade book depicting the life and work of Michelangelo has arrived at the New York Public Library. It was priced well over $100,000 making it the most expensive book in the world. The velvet and marble-bound book went on public display last week Tuesday. The book, titled La Dotta Mano or The Learned Hand, has a frontcover made of white marble from Michelangelo's favorite quarry, in Carrara. The binding is covered with red silk velvet and the book is filled with photographs of Michelangelo's sculptures and plates of his drawings, plus images of other creations, from the Sistine Chapel ceiling to his very personal poetry.

All these qualities have also given the book another title as the most beautiful book. The text is by Giorgio Vasari, Michelangelo biographer, with an essay by Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums.

It took six months to make one of the about 20 books that have already been sold. Marilena Ferrari, the Italian publisher who produced the masterpiece, said books were losing their identity because of the Internet. "It’s the modern Internet version of burning books. Today, things last very little before they disappear," she said.

An Act of God Indeed

Villagers in a small Russian village raised an alarm after they woke up one morning and found their church building had vanished from where it stood for almost 200 years.

Father Vitaly, a spokesman for The Church of Christ's Resurrection, in Komarovo, said the thieves had committed a "grave sin" and that police were investigating the crime.

The local Russian Orthodox Church was located in an isolated area and only occasionally visited by clergymen, so the disappearance was not immediately noticed. The church that was built in 1809 was not in use but the clergy had been considering resuming services there.

A survey of the large, two-storey church a few months ago, found that it was structurally sound, but was nowhere to be found, except the foundations and some sections of walls.

"This is not an isolated case. In many villages in central Russia, sites of historical interest are being dismantled and people suffer by being deprived of their cultural heritage," said Father Vitaly.

Local villagers, who Orthodox officials believe are behind the theft, suggest the disappearance could be an act of God.