Caroline Sampson wins Best Presenter award at SICA 2009

Caroline 'The Boss Lady' Sampson, host of Citi FM's 'Room 973' has won the 2009 Stars Integration of Culture of Africa (SICA) Award for presenter held recently in Benin. SICA is a cultural festival held annually in Benin to bring Africans together to display their various cultures through trade, fashion, music etc. It's a one week festival that started on the 17th November and ended on the 21st November in the city of Cotonou. 15 countries participated this year and Ghana won the Best Presenter Award.

Radio/TV presenter, actress and model, Caroline Sampson and highlife singer King David represented Ghana and competed for the two top awards as it is done each year; The Best Presenter and The Best Artiste awards respectively. Ghana won the best presenter award while Burundi took home the best artiste.

The festival started in 2002 and this year's was the 5th edition. It has seen the likes of Obarima Sidney, Elivava, Sherifa Gunu, Abeiku Santana amongst others perform and compete for honours. Ghanaian highlife and traditional music legend, Amandzeba who was one of the judges for this year's event said in an interview that it was a historic win as it is the first time a female and an English country had won; because the French had always dominated. One thing that bothers him though is the fact that Ghanaians especially the youth consciously or unconsciously ignore our rich cultural practices for Western cultures. He said, it was high time Ghanaians did their homework and promoted what they have as a people to other countries through music, school teachings etc in order to put Ghana on a higher pedestal. Other dignitaries present at the show were the Advisor to the Benin President, Ministers of State, top executives, musicians and journalists from all over Africa.

Caroline is excited about the win and she hopes that the award would jeer her on onto greater achievements. Her show, Room 973' currently runs on Citi Mondays –Wednesdays at 10pm. She has also recently launched her 'Help Somebody' campaign to help people in need of the simple things in life.