Winners have emerged at the 28th Diamond Award for Media Excellence (DAME) which held on 29 December 2019, at Sheraton hotel, Lagos.
According to Lanre Idowu, the Supervising Trustee of DAME while giving an opening remark at the awards:
“The media is an important institution in nation building. DAME awards honour journalists who have distinguished themselves in different areas of the career to represent the best interest of the country.”
The 28th Diamond Award For Media Excellence (DAME) finalists and winners were selected by a team of 15 judges.
The 28th Diamond Award For Media Excellence (DAME) had 16 categories, sponsored by various organisations including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nestle Nigeria, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (Jamb), the Lagos State Government, among others.
Winners Of 28th Diamond Award For Media Excellence (DAME)
- Best Designed Newspaper: Punch Newspapers (Winner)
This Day Newspaper (First runner-up)
Vanguard New paper (Second runner-up)
- Editorial Cartooning: Bennet Omeke; The Punch – Power of the Broom? (Winner)
Chukwuemeka Cornelius; New Telegraph – Jumbo allowances for senators and governors (Runner-up)
- News Photography: Olugbon Saheed; The Punch – Fifteen years after retirement, struggle continues. (Winner)
Adejumo Kabir; Premium Times – Nigerian Police officer caught on camera taking bribe (first runner-up)
Ayodele Adeniran; The Guardian – From mega city to mega dump (Second runner-up)
- Agriculture Reporting: Chikodi Anthony; The Nation – How smuggling stalls rice self-sufficiency target (Winner)
Dauda Sulaimon; The Nation – ETLS: Conduit for palm oil smuggling (First runner-up)
Isioma Madike; New Telegraph – Fish farming: Graduates response to Nigeria’s unemployment crisis (Second runner-up)
- Child Friendly Medium: Daily Trust (Winner)
This Day (First runner-up)
Vanguard (Second runner-up)
- Child Friendly Reporting: John Chikezie, New Telegraph (Winner)
Jesusegun Alagbe, The Punch (First runner-up)
Innocent Duru, The Nation (Second runner-up).
- Lagos Reporting: Nicholas Ibekwe; Premium Times – How Lagos govt sidelined local operators for foreign company with no experience in waste collection (Winner)
Tope Omogbolagun; The Punch – Lagos dump where scavengers trade in used syringes, other surgical waste (First runner-up)
Tunbosun Ogundare; Nigerian Tribune – Drama as Lagos teachers use pidgin to teach on Yoruba Day (Second runner-up)
- Investigative Reporting: Fisayo Soyombo; The Cable – with ₦46, 000, I drove a ‘stolen’ car from Abuja to Lagos and back (Winner)
Adbulaziz Abdulaziz; Premium Times – How Saraki’s National Assembly spent ₦6.6 billion Adeosun largesse on exotic cars (First runner-up)
Innocent Duru; The Nation – Failed Constituency projects rock Ekiti Communities (Second runner-up)
- Education Reporting: Cletus Ukpong; Premium Times – Learning in tears: Inside the massive decay in public schools in oil – rich Akwa Ibom (Winner)
Afeez Hanafi; The Punch – Double trouble for visually impaired pupils in Nigerian schools (First Runner-up)
Kofoworaola Belo-Osagie; The Nation – Out of school… Out of Touch (Second Runner-up)
- Newspaper of the Year: The Punch (Winner)
The Nation (First runner-up)
Premium Times (Second runner-up)
- Editor of the year: Martin Ayankola, The Punch (Winner)
Gbenga Omotosho, The Nation (First runner-up)
Muskilu Mojeed, Premium Times’ (Second runner-up)
- Editorial Writing of the Year: The Punch (Winner) for its entry, ‘Unchanging narrative of Nigeria’s endemic poverty’
Nigerian Tribune (First runner-up)
The Guardian (Second runner-up)
- Informed Commentary: Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, Nigerian Tribune (Winner)
- Radio Reporting: No winner
- Television Documentary: Nkoli Omhoudu, African Independent Television journalist (Winner)
- Sport Reporting: Taiwo Alimi, The Nation (Winner)
- Lifetime Achievement Recognition: Nigerian Tribune
Other categories of the 28th Diamond Award For Media Excellence (DAME) include: Judicial Reporting, Nutrition Reporting.