The organisers of the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) on Wednesday in Lagos called for entries of works produced in 2019 for this year’s “Nestlé Prize for Nutrition Reporting’’.
Nestlé Nigeria Plc also called on nutrition and wellness writers to take advantage of the opportunity to showcase and be recognised for their articles and stories in the Nestlé Prize for Nutrition Reporting category of the DAME awards, now in its 29th year.
“The Nutrition Writers Category instituted in 2018 was born out of the need to not only reward, but also recognise, and celebrate excellence among nutrition and health writers.
“The award is part of Nestlé’s commitment to empower journalists who are gatekeepers to ensure the wellbeing of individuals and families by providing adequate information to help them make healthier nutrition choices,’’ Victoria Uwadoka, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Nestlé Nigeria, said in a statement.
“We achieve this by collaborating with other stakeholders, including the Lagos Business School (LBS), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and DAME Trust Fund to provide training and support to produce more fact-based reporting.
“We have seen an improvement in the quality of the work submitted for Nestlé Prize for Nutrition Reporting over the past two years and look forward to even better entries this year,’’ Uwadoka said.
The 2019 winner of the prize, Chioma Obinna of the Vanguard Newspapers said: “It was gratifying to be winner of the prestigious 2019 DAME Nutrition Reporting Category Award.
“The prizes were fabulous! Aside from the recognition and prize from DAME, I became a proud owner of a brand new laptop, an iPad and a full Nestlé pack.
“I am grateful to Nestlé for sponsoring the category. I will also like to thank the company for choosing Nutrition particularly at this time the country is facing challenges of malnutrition.
“While appealing to other corporate organisations to emulate Nestlé, I encourage journalists, particularly health writers to participate in this year’s DAME.’’
She advised all to submit their entries on the DAME website, www.dameawards.com on or before the close of business on Friday, Oct. 16, 2020 as announced by the organisers.
All categories open for entries include Nutrition Reporting, Agriculture Reporting and Education Reporting among others.
Speaking on the third year of the Nestlé Prize for Nutrition Reporting, Mr Lanre Idowu of DAME said: “The Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) was created to stimulate and reward the pursuit of excellence in media work.
“DAME has the privilege of being the only awards scheme in Nigeria, which covers the media disciplines of Journalism, Broadcasting and Advertising.
“We are, therefore, pleased with this collaboration with Nestlé Nigeria to host the Nutrition Awards.
“With all the challenges we face in the area of Nutrition, Nigeria certainly needs more well-equipped Nutrition and Health reporters to help improve the health indices.
“It is commendable that Nestlé does not only sponsor the awards, but also invests in continuous training of the media all through the year.’’
In the past two years, Nestlé in collaboration with the Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University have carried out several media training sessions for nutrition, health, wellness and agriculture reporters.