Mrs. Grant Launches Millennium Excellence Awards

Accra, Aug. 25, GNA - Dr. (Mrs) Mary Grant, a Member of the Council of State, has described the millennium excellence awards as a positive and exceptional concept. She noted that it is a major singular honour to Ghanaians who have distinguished themselves in their various categories throughout the history of the country and the continent.

Dr Grant said this when she launched the Millennium Excellence Awards in Accra on Wednesday under the auspices of Ghana Classifieds, an Internet service provider. The Millennium Excellence Awards, carved on the Nobel Prize, Grammy and the Cannes Awards system, is meant to showcase individual and collective skills and abilities while seeking to raise the prestige of the personalities involved.

Dr. Grant said she was glad that, after a long time, a group of Ghanaians in a wholly private sector initiative had come out with a concept to reward Ghanaians and foreigners, both at home and abroad, who had dedicated their lives and work to the development of the nation and the continent.

She asked those who would be nominating the winners to do so dispassionately and without any touch of favouritism or bias. Mr George Sagoe, Events Officer at Ghana Classifieds, said the idea was born out of response to the company's running of features on personalities in various areas of endeavour on the Internet, in the newspapers and on the radio.

He said Ghana has been in the forefront of national development and is now at the cutting edge of a technology explosion. "Maintaining our leadership in all fields is critical to the progress and sustainability of this nation.

"It is for this reason that we focus on the national and global acknowledgement of our leaders and foreigners who have collectively contributed to the nation in getting to where it is and making her ready for the new century".

Mr Sagoe said the awards would cover business, culture, tradition, finance, media excellence, industrial, women and gender balance development as well as information technology promotion. Other areas are sports, education, Gold Coast Awards and the highest awards being that of the millennium excellency.

The top award in the century category will receive one of the top car models on the market, with winners in the decade category receiving the cedi equivalent of 10,000 dollars. Winners in the annual category will receive the cedi equivalent of 5,000 dollars.