[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter a very challenging outing at the just concluded prestigious 2016 Quill Awards competition held recently at Sheraton Hotels and Towers Lagos, Nigerian Pilot Newspaper’s Motoring Editor, Mrs Daphne Uduneje emerged as “Brand Advocate of the Year” .
The prize which was one of the seven prizes on offer at the award night was highly contested for by all Journalists from reputable media houses in the country.
Ajibola Amzat, a correspondent with Guardian Newspapers Limited, emerged the overall winner for the 2016 edition of the awards. Aside winning the overall trophy, Amzat also clinched the Category award for the Best Report on Children and Nutrition, thereby making a total of two awards he smiled home with. Amzat won the two awards with the entry he submitted for the Best Report on Children and Nutrition, Home Away. In that category, entries submitted by other nominees: Olatunji Ololade of The Nation, I Do Not Want This Child; and Isioma Madike of Sunday Telegraph, Hunger and The Nigerian Child; could not defeat that of Amzat.
Two staff of Punch Nigeria Limited, won two prizes in different categories. The prizes were won by Tobi Aworinde and Tunde Ajaja.
Aworinde emerged the winner of the award for the Education Reporter of the Year with his entry Punch Undercover Reporter Exposes Mass Cheating at NECO, while Ajaja coasted home with the trophy for the Future Writer of the Year with his entry: We live like Rats, Yet Nigerians want us to be their friends-Police men living in Dilapidated Barracks.
Other awardees at the event include OlatunjiOlolade of The Nation, who won the award for the Best CSR and Industry Report of the Year; and NurainKolawoleAliu of Leadership, the Best Photo Story of the Year. Kemi Busari of Thevendornews.com, won Best Online Reporter of the Year.
Ololade’s entry for the Best CSR and Industry Report Category: Sorrowful Song from the Valley of Iva, was also adjudged outstanding compared to Folashade Adebayo’s Abandoned Projects Force Nigerians to Drink Unsafe Water, published by The Punch and SeunAkioye’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 different categories of the awards.
According to him, if the intellectual exertion and the skill 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 said: “This person will be provided with a return flight ticket, accommodation in London, daily living allowance and tuition fees for the training.”
Winners from all the categories with the exception of the winner of the Best Photo Story of the Year, were given iPads, while the winner of the Best Photo Story of Year was given a high-end camera for his exceptional performance.
