Makerere University students are in jubilations after scooping all the top 3 positions in the Inter-University Smart Drinking challenge. Patrick Nuwetuhaire who emerged winner of the Inter-University Smart Drinking Challenge was awarded UGX 3 million by Nile Breweries Limited in an epic Grand finale where 15 finalists battled it out at Kabira Hotel, Bukoto. He beat 14 other finalists out of a total pool 388 submissions who submitted their ideas. Second (2nd) place went to Adong Linda with third (3rd) place going to Raymond Mukasa Charles; they both bagged UGX 2M & UGX 1M respectively. All these participants were from Makerere University.

“We challenged university students across Uganda to submit the best ideas to encourage responsible drinking amongst the youth, and the participants rose to the occasion to address the situation at hand with practical solutions,” said Onapito Ekomoloit, the Legal & Corporate Affairs Director at Nile Breweries. “I congratulate the winners and while they walk away with prizes, the most critical aspect is that they are now ambassadors of smart drinking,” Onapito said.

Launched in September 2021, the inaugural Inter-University Smart Drinking Challenge, was aimed at influencing social norms and individual behaviors, by challenging students to submit the best ideas to encourage responsible drinking behavior among the youth.  This followed recent studies that found high levels of abuse of alcohol and other substances in Ugandan universities. “As Uganda’s beer market leader, we could not idly look on at this negative trend,” Onapito said.

Students submitted ideas based on the theme Be Smart Drink Smart Beera Mu Classi. The competition saw students from the five (5) participating universities; Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science & Technology (MUST), Kampala University, Soroti University & Kyambogo University, battle it out throughout the campaign to make it to the top 100, then top 40 and top 15, from among whom 3 emerged the winners.

A total of 388 students entered the competition. In the grand finale, the top 15 students pitched their ideas to judges Bob Kasiki, Dr Innocent Nahabwe, Cynthia Tumwine Kawamara and Zandile Nqoko. On behalf of the judges, Dr Innocent Nahabwe, CEO Galaxy FM said, “Youth are the future; therefore, they need to be made part of the solutions to the challenges in our society such as harmful use of alcohol. The ideas presented here today are testament of this and can go a long way to make changes among our young adults if implemented.”