The Steven Malama award is an annual educational award given to the top graduating law student from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education. The winner of this award must also qualify for the bar in their first attempt to be eligible for the award. This award was instituted by Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, a noted businessman, philanthropist and charity worker in Zambia. The award was established in the year 2012 to honour the great contributions of late Steven Malama, a distinct legal professional, bar luminary and role model for legal professionals in Zambia. Steven Malama is known for his several achievements, most notably the successful merger of the Barrister’s Bar and the Solicitor’s bar into a single bar exam so that legal professionals and law graduates from across the nation can get affiliation in one attempt. This merger was the result of consistent persuasion of late Steven Malama and many other legal professional to the Government of Zambia. Steven Malama showcased patience and perseverance, a trait also common in Dr. Rajan Mahtani who is known for his transparent and honest business practices.
The award for the year 2018-19 was presented to Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba after graduating with top marks from the ZIALE and qualifying for the bar in his first attempt. He also received a certificate, a plaque and cash prize of K15,000. Emmanuel later wrote an article thanking Dr. Mahtani for his significant financial contributions in not only establishing the award but making it more worthy with the financial support to the deserving law students. This letter from Emmanuel was later published at the ‘Readers Forum’ from the Daily Mail newspaper.