Former editor in chief of Newswatch magazine, Raymond Ekpu and Emeritus professor of mass communication and veteran columnist, Olatunji Dare have been named Lifetime Achievement awardees of the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence Trust Fund for 2018.
A statement from DAME Secretariat said both men would be decorated at the 27th edition of the awards on Saturday, December 15, in Lagos where other journalists would also be honoured in different sectors of media practice.
The statement said: “Both men are being honoured for their lifelong devotion to advancing the frontiers of knowledge and strengthening the media as a pillar of democracy.”
“Ekpu, a former President of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, is a graduate of mass communication from the University of Lagos, has been a dominant name in the media for four decades. A former editor of the Nigerian Chronicle, he edited Sunday Times before berthing at National Concord as chairman of the editorial board. A founding father of Newswatch in 1984, he has been part of the struggle for press freedom. Today, he keeps a weekly column in the Guardian. As a celebrated media manager, Ekpu has mentored many outstanding journalists who are holding important positions in various media institutions worldwide.
“Also educated at the University of Lagos where he earned a first class bachelor’s degree in mass communication in 1973, Professor Dare obtained a master’s degree at Columbia University, and a doctorate at Indiana University, Bloomington. He was for many years a lecturer in the department of mass communication at the University of Lagos. He later served as editorial page editor of the Guardian before relocating abroad where he taught at Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois for 19 years.
READ ALSO: Global sports chiefs meet in London to tackle corruption
“Dare is one of Nigeria’s longest serving newspaper columnists having been at it for almost four decades.”
The lifetime award is DAME’s highest honour for communication professionals who have distinguished themselves and brought uncommon honour to journalism practice in the belief that such honorees can continue to serve as positive role models. With this recognition, both Ekpu and Dare join 24 previous inductees into the DAME Hall of FAME of Lifetime Achievers who have brought honour and meaning to media practice and scholarship.
