The Department of Journalism and Communication (DJC), Makerere University, has awarded the best public speaking students following a highly heated race.
Robert Kitenda Gobbi and Fredrick Magonga Musisi won the awards for best public speakers 2013 The Art of Public Speaking course.
Kitenda scooped the grade category beating four contenders, to take home a trophy, while Magonga lifted the certificate crown beating 5 other contestants.
Kitenda won with 12 votes ahead of Timothy Atwine who got 6; Evelyn Akudo and Christine Nafuna, who tied with 4 votes and Angella Abushedde, who trailed with two, while Magonga, beat off competition from Vicent Aisu, who got 7 votes; Micheal Kyabaggu, 5; Franko Olong and Brenda Alaroker, who tied with 3 and Juliet Kusemererwa who scored none.

The race was categorized into two; that with participants who were taking part in the public Speaking course for the first time and those who were advancing in the course. Thirty members participated in the voting. One invalid vote was registered.
The members of the grade category also went home with a certificate in The Art of Public Speaking while their counterparts who had taken the course and acquired a certificate last year went home with an advanced certificate in the same course.
The winners were hopeful that the awards would see them to the next level. For Magonga, the award would create a difference in his life. “It (the award) shall be a stepping stone to wherever I shall be going. It is a goal difference. All people have goals but there is a goal difference,” he said.
Kitenda, said the trophy would be necessary in his journey to become a media guru. “This trophy is a big step into my becoming a media guru,” he said.
Dr. Jack Smith, the Course lecturer was pleased with the entire election session, which he said was exceptional.
“This is the first time results are posted,” he said. “The students believed the whole electoral process was free and fair, given the fact that every thing was done openly,” he added.
“It was a free and fair process. Everybody voted and transparency was shown in the tallying of the votes. No one was forced to vote, no campaigns were done but everybody voted personally with no external influence,” Patience Biryomuruwe, a participant and voter said.
The Art of Public Speaking course is a three-month course headed by Dr. Jack Smith, a medical doctor. The course is attracts students from all programs. However, the course, which is a unit under the DJC, is taught under a special arrangement.