2013 Quill Award Winners Graduate from Pan-Atlantic University

Mrs. Ngozi Okpalakune, a Chief Correspondent, Consumer Affairs with Champion Newspapers; Mr. Daniel Obi of Business Day Newspapers, Mr. Tunbosun Ogundare of National Mirror Newspapers; Mr. Alexander Chiejina of BusinessDay Newspapers, Mr. Sodiq Adelakun of the Punch Newspapers and Mr. Andrew Enahoro, Head Legal and Public Relations of Promasidor.

Winners of the maiden edition of Promasidor Quill Awards for journalists have graduated from a three months training on Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (AWARES) at the Pan Atlantic University (PAU).

The training was sponsored by Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell milk, as part of the rewards it promised the winners earlier in the year at the maiden edition of the awards in Lagos.
The company had promised the winners, an opportunity to do a professional course at Lagos Business School (LBS), a campus of PAU besides giving them high-end Laptops and for the winner of the Photo Story category, a high-end camera.

Those who graduated include the Brand Advocate of the year category, Mrs. Ngozi Okpalakune, a Chief Correspondent, Consumer Affairs with Champion Newspapers; Mr. Daniel Obi of Business Day Newspapers who emerged winner of Best CSR Reporter of the year and the Most Educative Report of the Year category, Mr. Tunbosun Ogundare of National Mirror Newspapers.

Others include Mr. Alexander Chiejina of BusinessDay Newspapers who clinched the Best Report on Nutrition and the Photo-journalist of the Year, Mr. Sodiq Adelakun of the Punch Newspapers.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony held at Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Mr. Andrew Enahoro, Head Legal and Public Relations, Promasidor, advised the graduands to take the additional skills they have learnt as a stepping stone to advance their careers.

Enahoro who also graduated from LBS’ Advanced Management Course noted that the media is an important organ in the life of the society and the responsibility it plays in checking the pulse of different issues in society is crucial but most times undermined.

Mr. Dan Obi, one of the awardees, said “attending a programme sponsored by Promasidor at Pan Atlantic University was the best thing that has happened to me this year.”

He further said “To me, the refresher course is adding value to my job. For instance we were taught Corel draw, ethics in journalism, we were also taught about writing and critical writing, believe me it is very exciting. And I believe it is going to impact and add value to my life and my career.”

I must say that this is a well thought out programme by Promasidor, to come up with awards, they have given us computers and now training, I considered this training more important than the computers that we have got, and I know that it is really going to help us in our official work.

I commend TPT too for creating that synergy with Promasidor to make sure that this holds and I hope it should be sustained,” he said.

Speaking in the same vein Mrs. Okpalakune, said the training has been quite interesting and educative to the winners. She added that she appreciated the efforts of Promasidor in conjunction with TPT in organizing the training.

“I cannot quantify the experiences so far. It is very wonderful, I have learnt a lot especially in English writing and spoken communication, those things we don’t see as very necessary, we have seen how important they are and it is a kind of reminder to put it into practice so that we will be well detailed in our write ups,” she said.