The Guardian wins Newspaper, Editor of the Year

The Guardian wins Newspaper, Editor of the Year  Monday, November 23, 2009 - Lawrence Njoku (Enugu), Wole Shadare, Debo Oladimeji and Yemi Olakitan

THE Guardian's leadership position as Nigeria's flagship in newspapering was re-affirmed on Saturday night by the Nigeria Media Merit Awards (NMMA) Foundation which named it the best newspaper of the year 2008. It is the newspaper group's umpteenth win in that category. The newspaper's editor, Mr. Debo Adesina, also beat two other nominees, Steve Ayorinde of The Punch and Simon Kolawale of ThisDay Newspapers to emerge the Editor of the Year. A Senior Correspondent of the newspaper, Chukwuma Muanya, also bagged the Ernest Ikoli Prize for the Best Newspaper Reporter of the Year after beating two other nominees, who included his colleague in The Guardian, Debo Oladimeji and Dipo Kehinde of Punch Newspapers. But the event, which took place at Nike Lake Resort, Enugu, was nearly marred by the long delay in its take-off as the organisers waited for the arrival of the Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, to no avail. There were 47 awards in all, 35 in print, six in radio and six in television media. Other winners were Olushola Fabiyi who won the Abubakar Imam Prize for Features Writer of the Year, the Olu Aboderin Prize for Entertainment Reporter of the year was won by Lateef Ololade of Punch Newspapers while the News-Photographer of the year was won by Lukman Ajisegiri of Tell Magazine. The UBA prize for Money Market Reporting went to Salife Adejoko of National Life Newspapers. Editorial Writing of the Year award was won by The Punch while Louis Odion of National Life bagged the Columnist of the Year award. The Telecommunications Reporter of the year awards, which was sponsored by MTN, went to Seun Igbalode of IT and Telecom Digest. The Agriculture Reporter of the year award was given to Stella Sawyer of TELL Magazine while the Oyinlola Prize for Culture and Tourism went to Sina Fadare of Champion Newspapers. The Bashorun MKO Abiola Prize for Sports Reporter went to Okereochi Chikodi of Broad Street Journal and the Capital Market Reporter of the year went to Emmanuel Uffot. The Political Reporter of the Year award was given to Anayochukwu Agbo of TELL Magazine. The Environment Reporter of the year award went to Temitayo Sanyaolu of TELL Magazine. The banking and Finance award went to Raymond Mordi of Broad Street Journal. Sola Alabadan of Daily Independent received the Insurance Reporter of the Year award. The Cartoonist of the Year award went to Azeez Sanni of The Nation. Wale Alabi received the CRS Reporter of the year award. The Business Reporter of the year award went to Manuaka Tony of BSJ while the energy Correspondent Reporter of the year was Chucks Isiwu. Other major awards in the electronic section include Radio Production of the Year, which went to Shola Solanke, Radio Programme of the Year went to Abiodun Bannola. The Radio Station of the Year was Rhythm 93.7 while the Television Reporter of the Year was given to Deji Badmus. This year, the media sector in Africa celebrates 50 years of television broadcasting in Nigeria. Channels Television took the Television Station of the Year award. Most of the award winners went home with computer laptops, cash prizes, and a book-- Democracy Watch-- written by former Minister of Information and Culture, Prince Tony Momoh. The NMMA was inaugurated in December 1990 to celebrate and reward media excellence. The objectives of NMMA have been sustained and achieved through the years. Lagos was the official host of the awards in the early years. It was later decided that the yearly award ceremony should go round the various states of the federation on the advice of the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, who is the Grand Patron of the NMMA. Guests were seated at about 6.00 p.m. when the event was billed to begin and waited till 10.30 p.m., when members of the committee decided to call off the opening ceremony activities to go into the award presentations. Attempts by government officials present, including Secretary to the State government, Martin Ilo, Chief of Staff, Ifeoma Nwobodo and some commissioners to stand in for the governor were rebuffed by the organisers. When finally the event started, some guests had left. Announcing the awards at the 19th edition of the NMMA held in Enugu, Chairman of the 2009 Award Nominating Panel, Prince Tony Momoh, one of Nigeria's foremost journalists, lawyer and renowned media manager, said The Guardian's in-depth reportage, fairness and reach marks it as the best in the country, stressing that the paper had truly lived up to its name as the leader in the industry to win the Babatunde Jose Prize. The newspaper, he said, had maintained high standards, stressing that it met the requirements and satisfaction of the 25-man nominating committee for this year's award. Describing Debo Adesina as a high-profile editor, who had in 2005 and 2006 won the Dele Giwa Prize for the Best Editor of the Year, Momoh said that Adesina has continually distinguished himself since he became the youngest editor in the country then at the age of 27, just about four years after joining The Guardian stable in 1988. Board Chairman of NMMA, Alhaji Alade Odunewu, a newspaper columnist of note, popularly known as Allah De, while explaining the activities of the organisation so far, said the event was created to promote excellence in the Nigeria media and foster unity, stressing that despite all odds, it had been sustained.