Sierra Leone News: Desmond Finney Wins Performing Artist of the Year
By Stephen V. Lansana
Mr. Desmond Finney, a prolific Sierra Leonean actor, on Sunday December 29, 2019, won the AWOL National Achievement Awards 2019 for Performing Artist of the year for the movie category in an award ceremony held at the Bintumani International Conference Center in Aberdeen, Freetown.
The First Lady, Fatima Bio and a host of cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, and members of the diplomatic corps, journalists, corporate executives and other Sierra Leoneans from the diaspora attended the ceremony.
AWOL recognized Mr. Finney for his contribution to movie making in Sierra Leone and in West Africa. AWOL nominated Finney alongside Henrietta Mbawah and Phebean Swill for the award, but he clinched the award when he won the vote with a resounding acknowledgement from the public and the judges.
Celebrating his national excellence award, Finney expressed gratitude to all those that voted for him including those in the diaspora. He commented that the run –up to the final vote was very competitive considering the personalities he was up against.
In the last two years, the respected actor had received many national and international awards from credible institutions. It could be recalled that the Special Movie Awards recognized Finney when they awarded him with the Foreign Actor’s Award for his role in Collins Achie Pearce’s movie ‘Ibu in Sierra Leone’.
Also in the Special Movie Awards organized by Afrinity Productions in Banjul, the Gambia, Finney also won a lifetime achievement award. He bagged a total of five awards in 2019 alone including an award for best supporting actor at the Black Continental International and SLAAM Awards in the USA. He also won another lifetime achievement award at the FANEA and NEA awards.
The outstanding actor dedicated the AWOL Award to his wife, fans, well-wishers and family members. “This is the second time I am winning this category at AWOL,” he said.
This is the 14th AWOL awards ceremony since the national recognition scheme was introduced in 2002. AWOL bestowed a total of 38 awards upon outstanding Sierra Leoneans who have positively contributed to the development of this country in their various works of life in the following areas: Education, Sports, the Forces, Media, the Legal profession, Medical profession, Finance, Philanthropy, Fashion and Communication. This is the first time since 2002, that the entertainment category has been expanded to include music, film/movie, comedy and fine arts as separate categories.