The evening was cool as media practitioners arrived to a warm reception to witness another chapter in the history of Nigerian journalism. The best hands in the profession from various print and online news media were honoured as Promasidor rewarded best journalism practice in the 2016 Quill Awards held recently at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
The Guardian Newspaper correspondent, Ajibola Amzat, emerged the overall winner in the awards, thereby clinching the prize from the 2014-2015 winner, Taiwo Alimi of The Nation Newspapers. In addition to clinching the overall prize, Amzat also bagged the award for Best Report on Children and Nutrition, thereby making a total of two awards he bagged.
The Nation’s correspondent, Olatunji Ololade with his Sunday Telegraph counterpart, Isioma Madike, with the entry titled: I Do Not Want This Child; and Hunger and The Nigerian Child could not stop Amzat from clinching the prize for that category.
Other correspondents who bagged awards at the event include Olatunji Ololade of The Nation, who won the award for Best CSR and Industry Report of the Year; and Tobi Aworinde of The Punch, the Education Reporter of the Year.
Similarly, The Punch Newspaper correspondent, Tunde Ajaja bagged the award for Future Writer of the Year; Daphne Uduneje of Nigerian Pilot, Brand Advocate of the Year and Kemi Busari of Thevendornews.com, Best Online Reporter of the Year.
Sorrowful Song from the Valley of Iva, an entry for the Best CSR and Industry Report by Ololade, was adjudged the most outstanding compared to Folashade Adebayo’s Abandoned Projects Force Nigerians to Drink Unsafe Water, published by The Punch and Seun Akioye’s A Nation’s Endangered Treasure: 800 Year-Old Nasarawa Salt Mine at Risk of Extinction (The Nation).
Commenting on the awards, Olivier Thiry, Managing Director, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell, Onga, Toptea and Loya Milk and organizers of the prestigious Promasidor Quill awards, commended all journalists who submitted entries for the different categories of the awards. Thiry restated Promasidor’s commitment to rewarding excellence in Nigerian journalism through the Quill Awards.
According to him, if the intellectual exertion and the skills required in producing a good report or story is put in perspective, there is no reward that can adequately compensate the effort of journalists in educating the public. His words: “Based on this realization of the important role of the media in our economy, the management of Promasidor Nigeria in 2012 conceptualized Promasidor Quill Awards with the ultimate goal of assessing, recognizing and rewarding excellence for outstanding journalistic work.”
Apart from the plaques, high-end iPads and the company’s products given to the overall winner, Thiry disclosed that Amzat will be sent to London for an all-expense paid four-week multi-media journalism training course with Thomson Foundation. Thiry added that the overall winner will also be placed on a week’s job placement with a prominent British national news organization before returning to Nigeria. His words: “This person will be provided with return flight ticket, accommodation in London, daily living allowance and tuition fees for the training.”
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