Arthur explained that at the end of the ebola pandemic in Sierra Leone, WeOwnTV as an organization thought it fit to empower the local media as ‘our own contribution to the post ebola recovery effort; this is what leads to the creation of a project code named ‘Now The Healing Begins’.
This project, he said, “intends to use story telling as a means of national healing.”
Arthur noted that “having grasp the knowledge and understanding of the importance of the local media in development and promotion of freedom of speech and expression, (WeOwnTV) through its international partners saw it fit to provide seed grant to independent and creative minds wishing to explore the area of story telling as a means of providing a platform for innovation.”
He also revealed that the competition was not limited to Sierra Leone but was also extended to Guinea and Liberia as well.
“During the call for proposal a total of 17 proposals came in, out of which 11 were from Freetown, 3 from Makeni, 1 from Bo, 1 from Guinea and 1 from Liberia,” adding that “out of the 17 proposals 10 where shortlisted and 7 made it to the finials.”
“At the end we have 3 winners and four runners up,” he accentuated.
Arthur revealed that the winners of the WeOwnTV Challenge 2016 are:  Director John Solo for his documentary script titled: ‘Life After the Army’; Director George Lewis, ‘Hole in My Backyard’; and Director Michael Kargbo, ‘Bridging Communities’.
The runners up, he said are, Director, Mohamed Conteh for his documentary script titled ‘The Devils Stone’; Director Mohamed Sheriff,’Okada’; Director Michaella Sellu,’ The Journey’ and Director Amara Lugbou Kamara, ‘Risk Life.’
Arthur noted “these directors will undergo a week documentary film training, which will end on the 6th when they will receive their funding grants and certification.”