Punch Nigeria Limited won a total of three awards out of seven available in the just-concluded 2014 Promasidor Quill Awards for journalists. The newspaper’s correspondent, Mr. Kunle Falayi, was declared the overall winner. Aside winning the overall award, Mr. Falayi also clinched two other awards at the category level, thereby making a total of three honours he smiled home with.
His entry for the Best Report on Education: Lagos school where pupils sit on bare floor, was adjudged the best and therefore earned him the award for that category. Falayi also paired with Isioma Madike, formerly of The Nation, but now of New Telegraph to jointly win the Best Report on Children award.
With his outstanding performance compared to others, the judges considered Falayi the best of all candidates and therefore adjudged him the overall winner.
Speaking at the awards presentation held at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Lagos, Chief Keith Richards, Chairman of Promasidor Nigeria gave kudos to all journalists who submitted entries for different categories of the awards. Apart from the high-end lap-top and the company’s products given to the overall winner, Chief Richards disclosed that Mr. Falayi will be sent to London for an all-expense paid four-week multi-media journalism training course with Thomson Foundation.
Following the training in London, the Chairman said that Mr. Falayi will be sent on a week job placement with a prominent British national news organisation. His words: “This person will be provided with return flight, accommodation in London, daily living allowance and tuition fees for the training.”
The award for the Best Report on Nutrition in this year’s Promasidor Quill Awards for journalists was won by the correspondent of the Guardian Newspapers Limited; Mr. Gbenga Salau. He beat his counterpart from New Telegraph, Mr. Mojeed Alabi, to clinch the award.
Similarly, Adekunle Yusuf of The Nation newspaper carted away the award for the Best CSR & Industry Report beating Odimegwu Onwumere of Nigerian Pilot hands down; The Future Writer of the Year and Brand Advocate awards went to Odogwu Obinna of The Sun, and Daniel Obi of BusinessDay; respectively. Ayodele Ojo of Daily Sun went home with the award for the Best Photo of the Year.
Winners from all the categories with the exception of the winner of the Best Photo Story of the Year, were given high-end laptops, while the winner of the Best Photo Story of Year was given a high-end camera for their excellence performance.
According to Chief Richards, all other winners, except the overall winner, will enjoy media training at the Lagos Business School as a means of capacity building.
Since Promasidor’s inception in Nigeria, Chief Richards stated, we have maintained a fantastic relationship with the media. Reporters and media organisations have helped us to penetrate every part of the country, as we strive to make our products available to millions of Nigerians.
His words: “while we toil to build an enduring brand through hard work and dedication to our customers, so also the media complement us with their reportage and promotional messages of our products. The positive engagement between the media and Promasidor has made our products very acceptable and indeed become market leaders in their segments.”
In recognition of this, Promasidor launched the Quill Awards in 2012 as a platform for assessing, recognizing and rewarding excellence for outstanding journalistic work based on merit for their work and not a self-seeking approach to get accolades. According to Chief Richards, the Quill Awards seek to remind journalists of the importance of their role in society and to society, the need to encourage professionalism and appreciate outstanding work.
The panel of judges who have painstakingly gone through all the entries to select the winners is made up of distinguished individuals and professionals committed to media excellence. The judges include Ambassador Patrick Dele Cole, a veteran journalist, who returns as chairman of the panel of judges; Kadaria Ahmed, former editor of 234 Next, Joseph Okonmah, Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Lagos Chapter; and Reze Bonna, a renowned celebrity photographer and Architect.
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