A Kenyan woman has been named the winner of BBC’s International Podcast competition which was launched earlier this year. Namulanta Kombo emerged as the winner for writing touching letters to her daughter.
The competition attracted more than 1,000 entries from no-broadcast and podcast professionals from Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
Kombo’s inspiration to enter the competition stemmed from a desire to give her five year old daughter a different life after she identified missing gaps in her own life experience.
“One of the things I would love for her to know would be to just be the best version of herself, unapologetically. That is the one message I would like to give her today.”
Read: BBC Invites Kenya, Nigeria and S. Africa to First Ever International Podcast Competition
Kombo says she decided to write a ‘handbook to life’s for her little daughter when she imagined how life would be like for her if she was not in the picture. The letters would include other people’s experiences as she noted down the comparison between a younger version of herself and that of her daughter.
It is this quest – Letters to My Daughter – that won her the BBC World Service’s award.
The podcast will hear experiences, anecdotes and advice from mothers across Africa, and around the world, that they want to share with their daughters.
“I asked friends and family to write letters to the women in their lives, and considered the best way to get these letters out to the world. The BBC competition came about and I saw it as an opportunity to put my thoughts together,” asserts Kombo.
BBC declared her entry Letters to My Daughter the winner with plans to launch a podcast that will detail anecdotes from Mothers across the continent and the world to their daughter.
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The entry won the competition due to its originality and creativity.
“The BBC was looking for podcast ideas that would resonate with women around the world. We were overwhelmed by the breadth and quality of the entrants. Within that excellent field, one idea stood out. Namulanta Kombo’s podcast will curate letters from women across the world to their daughters. It’s a wonderful idea with huge potential. I can’t wait to hear the first episode,” says the BBC’s Director General, Tim Davie.
Kombo works on projects affecting Kenyans and supporting government agencies on monitoring, evaluation and policy work in the development sector.
She also runs a play centre that focuses on imaginative and messy play to promote learning. She is also involved in planning national art competitions and family fun days.
Kombo’s podcast is expected to launch in December 2020. The BBC International Podcast competition will be back again in 2021.
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