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Ghana Legends Awards Launched to Honour Living Icons

From Daily Graphic · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • The Ghana Legends Awards launched in Accra to honour Ghanaians whose work has had a lasting impact in fields including music, sports, education, health and public service.
  • Organisers will hold the first awards ceremony on October 22 and have created a fund to support legends who need assistance.
  • Music leaders urged greater investment in indigenous music and called on young musicians to preserve highlife’s Ghanaian identity.

The Ghana Legends Awards has launched in Accra with a message that national icons should receive recognition during their lifetimes, not only after they die.

The platform will honour Ghanaians whose contributions to music, sports, education, health, business, public service and other fields have left a lasting mark. Its first awards ceremony is scheduled for October 22.

Everyone is quick to post RIP when they pass, but when they were alive, they were not acknowledged.

· Gladys BineyThe awards founder explained why the initiative focuses on honouring national figures during their lifetimes.

Founder Gladys Biney said the initiative was designed to change a familiar pattern of delayed appreciation. “Everyone is quick to post RIP when they pass, but when they were alive, they were not acknowledged,” she said. The organisers have also established a fund to help legends who may need support.

This is to change the narrative. We will not wait for our legends to die before we honour them.

· Gladys BineyBiney described the purpose of the awards and their support fund.

“This is to change the narrative. We will not wait for our legends to die before we honour them,” Biney said, describing the honourees as extraordinary people who deserve appreciation, support and recognition while they are alive.

Kesewaa Asamoah, a board member of the nongovernmental organisation Aim Ghana, called the awards the beginning of a national movement built around gratitude, storytelling and inspiration. “A nation that does not honour its heroes will struggle to raise new ones,” she said, urging Ghanaians to make the project a national effort because “our heroes belong to us.”

A nation that does not honour its heroes will struggle to raise new ones.

· Kesewaa AsamoahThe Aim Ghana board member framed the awards as a national movement of gratitude and inspiration.

Bessa Simons, president of the Musicians Union of Ghana, called for more investment in musicians who promote indigenous music. He said musicians had provided entertainment and cultural value to generations of Ghanaians. Simons also urged young performers to learn from highlife pioneers and protect the genre’s distinctive Ghanaian identity. He said highlife had gained international recognition and that efforts to preserve it had contributed to UNESCO’s recognition of it as an intangible cultural heritage of Ghana. He further urged the government to support Ghanaian music rather than giving greater attention to foreign genres, arguing that investment could help young musicians build sustainable careers.

Our heroes belong to us.

· Kesewaa AsamoahAsamoah urged Ghanaians to make the awards a national project.
About this summary

Originally published by Daily Graphic in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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