It was The Punch newspaper’s day at the 28th edition of the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence, DAME, held on Sunday in Lagos.
With 24 points, the newspaper emerged winner of the Newspaper of the Year while its closest opponent, The Nation had 16 points and Premium Times, an online newspaper, came third with 10 points.
The Editor of The Punch newspapers, Martin Ayankola, emerged winner of the Editor of the Year.
He pushed Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, now Lagos State Commissioner for Information, to the second place while Muskilu Mojeed won the third place.
A number of the newspaper’s reporters won in some of the different categories of the competition.
The Punch emerged the winner of the Best Designed Newspaper category; winner of Editorial Cartooning category and winner of News Photography category.
Its reporters also emerged runners up in some categories.
The Nation also did well, winning in the Agriculture Reporting category; Sports Reporting category and Judiciary Reporting category.
Also, some of The Nation’s reporters were runners up in some categories.
Premium Times won the Lagos Reporting category and Education Reporting.
Winners and runners up in the different categories are as listed below:
Best Designed Newspaper
The Punch (Winner)
This Day (First runner up)
Vanguard (Second runner up)
Editorial Cartooning
The Punch (Bennet Omeke: Power of the broom?) (Winner)
New Telegraph (Chukwuemeka Cornelius Emenke: Jumbo allowances for senators and governors) Runner up
News Photography
The Punch (Olugbon Saheed: Fifteen years after retirement, struggle continues) (Winner)
Premium Times (Adejumo Kabir: Nigerian police officers caught on camera taking bribe) (First runner up)
The Guardian (Ayodele Adeniran: From megacity to mega dump) (Second runner up)
Agriculture Reporting
The Nation (Chikodi Anthony Okereocha: How smuggling stalls rice self-sufficiency target) (Winner)
The Nation (Dauda Sulaiman Oluwakemi: ETLS: Conduit for palm oil’s smuggling) (First runner up)
New Telegraph (Isioma Madkie: 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)
Lagos Reporting
Premium Times (Nicholas Ibekwe: How Lagos govt sideline local operators for foreign company with no experience in waste collection) (Winner)
The Punch (Tope Omogbolagun: Lagos dump where scavengers trade in used syringes, other surgical waste) (First runner up)
Nigerian Tribune (Tunbosun Ogundare: Drama as Lagos teachers use pidgin to teach on Yoruba day) (Second runner up)
Sports Reporting
The Nation (Taiwo Alimi: The real winner of the World Cup) (Winner)
New Telegraph (Ajibade Olusesan: Great footballers, not too great businessmen) (First runner up)
The Nation (Olalekan Okusan: Asoju Oba Cup: 50 years of thrilling table tennis fiesta (Second runner up)
Judiciary Reporting
The Nation (Joseph Jibueze: Can the law tame murderous doctors?) (Winner)
The Punch (Adeyemi Sunday Adesomoju: Supreme Court of living, dying and dead cases (I)) (First runner up)
The Punch (Afeez Hanafi: Revealed! How ‘professional’ sureties, court officials aid defendants to escape justice) (Second runner up)
Nutrition Reporting
Vanguard (Chioma Obinna: Sad story of Nigeria’s stunted and ‘wasted’ children) (Winner)
The Nation (Olatunji Ololade: Dangerous loaves) (First runner up)
The Punch (Samson Folarin: How fruits ripened with carbide kill Nigerians) (Second runner up)
Child Friendly Reporting
New Telegraph (John Chikezie: Defilement: When protectors become predators) (Winner)
The Punch (Jesusegun Alagbe: Herdsmen crisis: Pain, anger of orphans in IDP camps) (First runner up)
The Nation (Innocent Duru: Schooling in tears: How herdsmen crisis paralysed basic education in Benue (I)) (Second runner up)
Editorial Writing
The Punch (Unchanging narrative of Nigeria’s endemic poverty) (Winner)
Nigerian Tribune (Nigerian’s population challenge) (First runner up)
The Guardian (Leah Sharibu as albatross) (Second runner up)
Informed Commentary
Nigerian Tribune (Lasisi Olagunju: Danjuma: Ugliness is the beauty of northern Nigeria) (Winner)
The Punch (Joel Nwokeoma: Alas, Nigeria fails to save her daughter) (First runner up)
Nigerian Tribune (Sulaimon Olanrewaju: Are we jinxed, obtuse or just incompetent) (Second runner up)
Investigative Reporting
The Cable (Fisayo Soyombo: Reporter’s Diary: With N46,000 bribe, I drove a ‘stolen’ car from Abuja to Lagos, and back!) (Winner)
Premium Times (Abdulaziz Abdulaziz: Exclsuive: How Saraki’s National Assembly spent N6.6 billion Adeosun largesse on exotic cars) (First runner up)
The Nation (Innocent Duru: Failed constituency projects rock Ekiti communities) (Second runner up)
Education Reporting
Premium Times (Cletus Ukpong: INVESTIGATION: Learning in tears: Inside the massive decay in public schools in oil-rich Akwa Ibom) (Winner)
The Punch (Afeez Hanafi: Double trouble for visually impaired pupils in Nigerian schools) (First runner up)
The Nation (Kofoworola Belo-Osagie: 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
The Punch: Martin Ayankola (Winner)
The Nation: Gbenga Omotoso (First runner up)
Premium Times: Muskilu Mojeed (Second runner up)
Lifetime Award
Nigerian Tribune
