Journalist of the Year:
(This award is for writers in and for reputed and reputable journals in Nigeria and perhaps abroad. It is for the print journalist whose writing can be compared with the best of the world – his/her ideas and articles/stories/interviews he has written/done must also be very creative and essentially original in thought and approach. He must also be an extremely hard worker, and this must be evident in the nomination.)

Full Name: AYENI ADEKUNLE SAMUEL
Date of Birth: NOVEMBER 28, 1978
Medium: ENCOMIUM MAGAZINE
Details of published pieces in past one year: REGULAR 4-PAGED SHOWBIZ COLUMN (NOTES&TONES) IN ENCOMIUM WEEKLY
Major assignments:
COVERING THE MOBO AWARDS IN LONDON
RESEARCHING AND PUBLISHING INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ON JAIYE ABODERIN'S DEATH
EXCLUSIVELY CHRONOCLING AFRICAN CHINA'S ARREST, DETENTION, AND EVENTUAL RELEASE ( FOR ALLEGED RAPE).
Assignments per edition: AT LEAST TWO COVER STORIES, EIGHT STORIES FOR MY COLUMN (NOTES & TONES), EIGHT GISTS, AND ONE OPINION ARTICLE (SOLILOQUY)
International highlights: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RAPPER JAY Z, AND PULITZER PRIZE WINER, DELE OLOJEDE
Other info: Consults for Hip Hop World magazine, and was part of the core team for the massively successful Hip Hop World Awards 2006

Full Name: Abdulkareem Baba Aminu
Date of Birth: 7th July, 1976
Medium: Daily/Weekly Trust newspapers, Abuja
Details of some published pieces in the past one year:
• Cops as Robbers: Police Accused of Armed Robbery ( Sept. 10 2005 ) – A lot of casual talk has always been made about how policemen sometimes indulge in or aid armed robbers. So, when an incident happened in a rural town in Kaduna , he investigated and told the story, sparing no-one and no detail. Three days after his story hit, the entire police force in the town (about 80-strong) were transferred and a new crop brought in.
• The EFCC: Curiouser and Curiouser ( Oct. 15 2005 ) – Here, he tried to go into the machinery of the EFCC and shine light on its still-dark operations.
• Bird Flu: Another disaster waiting to happen? (Oct. 29 2005 ) – He focused on the migratory patterns of birds likely to be carrying the avian flu and discovered it crosses into Nigerian wetlands. The government’s lack of preparedness also showed, which he reported. Some letters they received declared the story as ‘alarmist’. Months later, avian flu hit Nigeria hard, affecting the poultry industry just as my story had predicted and warned.
Major assignment in past year: A story called ‘The EFCC: Curiouser and curiouser’. Also, a follow-up to that same one came later in 2006.
Most difficult assignment: “Researching for a story on Avian Flu and the possibility of an outbreak in Nigeria . Getting statistics proved to be a nightmare. I tried to interview government officials and ended up supplying them with the information I needed from them in the first place.”
Assignments per edition: He is editor of the magazine section, a 14-page pull-out He also reports and contribute (irregularly) to our Saturday back-page column, writes and draws a cartoon strip which has been running non-stop for 4 ½ years called ‘Sis & Bro’ and a political satire called ‘Poison Ink’. He also plans and does the layout of all the magazine pages, as well as the front cover. Additionally, he illustrates any article in the stable, which has no accompanying photo or image.
In addition to editing and providing content for the entertainment pages, he also reviews books, movies and music for their Weekly and Sunday editions.
International highlights: He was part of an FG Monitoring Team in Togo, during that country’s controversial 2005 elections, where he reportedly faced death many times trying to escape back to Nigeria after the elections turned violent. The resulting travelogue, aptly called ‘Escape from Togo ’ was published May 2005.
Other info: Colleagues insist that, contrary to popular belief, it was his story in the Weekly Trust of Oct. 25 2005 that raised concern over the possibility of an avian flu outbreak in Nigeria. Months later, after an actual outbreak, an NTA programme began to claim the same.
He also has a healthy interest in stories and investigations into issues that seem to slip through the cracks and are forgotten by mainstream media. He adds, “Oftentimes, I take weeks and even months researching a story before writing it for publication.”

Full Name: ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI

Date of Birth: JUNE 28, 1979

Medium: THE SOURCE

Details of some published pieces in past one year: AIDS: HERE IS THY STING, OCTOBER 10, 2005,

Assignments per edition: MINIMUM OF ONE AND MAXIMUM FOUR DEPENDING ON SEVERAL FACTORS

Awards: NIGERIA MEDIA MERIT AWARD-INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER OF THE YEAR 2006 RUNNER-UP, RED RIBBON AWARD RUNNER-UP 2005 (BEST FEATURE ARTICLE), RED RIBBON AWARD WINNER 2006 (BEST FEATURE REPORT- PRINT)

Full Name: KOLAWOLE JOHNSON OLUWAFEMI
Date of Birth: 15TH APRIL, 1981

Medium: JOURNALISTS AGAINST AIDS (JAAIDS) NIGERIA, BRANDFaces and www.nigeria-aids.org, (a website updated daily and designed to serve as the online resource centre on HIV/AIDS for journalists, researchers, NGOs and all players in HIV/AIDS mitigation.)

Assignments in past one year:
A. Monthly Media Monitoring Reports on HIV/AIDS Reporting among national newspapers in Nigeria for the JAAIDS Media Monitoring Service
B. News/feature reports on media roundtables organised by JAAIDS
C. Article (November 14, 2006) Preventing HIV infection among people with Disability

Major Assignment: Organising the annual RED RIBBON AWARDS after the brutal killing of Omololu Falobi, the Founder/Executive Director of JAAIDS on
Thursday, October 5, 2006 by armed men.
He and another colleague has the responsibility to visit media houses and solicit for space to announce the call for entries, post the information on our website, send flyers to media organisations, attend meetings with sponsors, draft press releases, collate the entries and send out to all members of the panel of judges before they come together to cross-check their scores for each entry and unanimously select their winners in our Lagos office, hiring cameramen for the awards, drafting the awards programme, criss-crossing top hotels in Lagos to book the December 3 date we had in mind, making lodging arrangements for winners who were coming outside of Lagos, getting the back-drops and roll-up banners printed for the awards ceremony, sending out invitations etc.

Awards:
1. NOMINEE, YOUNG JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR, SEPTEMBER 2005. (he was second runner-up.)
2. NOMINATED FOR THE 2006 AART OF LIFE AGAINST ALL ODDS TV DOCUMENTARY & AWARDS
(He was one of the ten Nigerians, and he was chosen based on the positive impact he has made as a young journalist even with the daunting background of losing his dad at 14 years, then neglected by relatives who should care, discriminated against by a polytechnic rector despite my brilliant results, but going ahead to winning well-recognised media awards with good prize money, and especially, contributing to the recall of a student of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Frederick Adegboye whose admission was almost denied him just for the sake of being an HIV-positive person. The video documentary was broadcast on Channels TV and the Network Service of the NTA)
Other info: He is with the Research and Communication Unit of JAAIDS. He is also responsible for sending reports to the forum, (eforum@nigeria-aids.org) - to over 5, 000 members of the list serve based in Nigeria, South Africa, the US, and Europe as the need arises.

Full Name: GBENGA ADELEKE OGUNDARE

Date of Birth: 13 October, 1976

Medium: National Interest Newspaper (Head of the Art/Life Desk)

Details of published pieces: “I work on the Features Desk which naturally provides me with diverse subject areas to cover. The past one-year has seen me writing stories in Arts, Life, Culture, Governance and Education Beats.”

Major assignment: A CRUEL DEAL - because of its investigative depth and capacities to inspire national re-orientation and change in the education sector.

Most difficult assignment in the past one year:
EJIGBO: Where Ifa, Not Jesus Nor Mohammed, Is Lord
INTROSPECTION: Musings of an Artful Mind

Awards:
Winner, Bournvita Education Reporter of the Year Award 2006;
Runner-Up, ANA/Anyiam Osigwe Literary Journalism Award 2006;
Runner-Up, Child Friendly Journalist of the Year, DAME 2006;
1ST Runner-Up, Bournvita Education Reporter of the Year Award 2005.

Other info: He is a published poet and short story writer: published by the British Council and the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA.

Full name: Ebun Olatoye

Date of birth: 1977

Medium: True Love West Africa (Staff Writer)

How much work per edition: Ebun is solely responsible for the cover interviews and does at least 30% of the stories in the magazine per edition

Details of published works: Cover Interviews with Ronke Apampa, Toyin Bello, Genevieve Nnaji, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Karima Onitiri, Asa, Joan Agabi, etc

Other interviews: RMD, Nkem Owoh, Bianca Ojukwu, Lagbaja, Jeta Amata etc
She has also done interviews in the Spirit, Inspiration, Spotlight on Women, Spotlight on Movies, Celebrity and Issue Columns.

Major assignment: Going to cover the Osun-Osogbo Festival and interviewing the revered Susan Wenger

Most difficult assignment: A story on the Liberian refugees at the Oru camp where the refugees were very hostile, and succeeding in finally winning them over and getting a story with a lot of depth. This is more striking based on the fact that people see True Love as a ‘women’s magazine’ but Ebun through the ‘Issues’ columns deals with a lot issues that require serious research

Other info: Ebun runs a fashion house called Earthstones, and this year was on a three-month course in the UK to develop her skills in this area. She also works with Cassava Republic on their book tours across West Africa.

Full name: Samson Adeoye
Date of Birth: May 12, 1979
Medium: Guardian Newspapers Limited
Details of published work in the last one year: Stories published regularly in the Guardian on Sunday and the magazine Life, which is his primary assignment. In the Sunday Paper, he does the Marketing Edge page, which is mostly about advertising and public relations, reviews of campaigns and reports on events in the industry.
For Life, he does a major percentage of interviews and features and coordinated the fashion pages and the music pages.
Major assignment: Production of the pace setting, Life magazine with the two other editorial members and generally ensuring that the magazine comes out every Sunday.
Most difficult assignment: “Marketing Edge - being a technical page, there is need for regular study so as not to insult readers' intelligence; moreover he page was already declared dead before I was fully engaged at the Guardian. So to raise it up as a junior reporter was daunting and after one year, I am glad that no complaints have ever been raised by the editors.”
How much work per edition: At least 30 percent of the editorial production of LIFE. Full page in the Sunday paper.
Other info: At 27, he is easily the youngest fully-engaged reporter in The Guardian. And while there are many "older" reporters without a space for themselves, he has a full page in the Guardian on Sunday. Also, he got this job just two months after his Youth Service.

Full Name: OYETAYO WILLIAMS ADESHINA
Date of Birth: MARCH 22ND, 1981
Medium: TELL MAGAZINE (Senior Reporter)
Details of published work in the past one year: He writes virtually every other week. His stories range from politics, lifestyle, entertainment to health and the environment.
Major assignment: After a careful and in-depth analysis of the goings-on in the political sphere of Ekiti State, he had predicted (Not as a prophet though) in September that Governor Ayo Fayose would not get a second term and that in the long run, he would be impeached. These came to pass in October.
Most difficult assignment: Having to tour four states; Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and Kwara investigating the neglect of waterfalls in Nigeria. What made it more difficult was that he had to travel on a bike (Okada) for about one and a half hours to get to Owu Waterfalls in Kajola, Kwara State . Between the place where it became impossible for the bike to continue and the waterfall proper, required another 30 minutes of trekking. On the way, he came across two snakes, which his guide was brave enough to kill. Then, he had to travel back to the nearest town for another 120 minutes because the village had neither electricity nor a hotel.

How much work per edition: Being a weekly general news magazine, there is no limit to the amount of work he does. However, apart from reporting and writing, he has been entrusted to oversee the entertainment desk
INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: He was in Mozambique and South Africa last July for the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year where he was one of 21 finalists from across Africa.
AWARDS:
Finalist, CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year 2006
Winner, Young Journalist of the year, 2005
Nominee, Investigative Reporter of the year, Nigeria Media Merit awards, NNMA, 2006
Nominee, Showbiz Reporter of the Year, Celebrity Media Awards, CMA, 2004
Nominee, Fashion Reporter of the Year, CMA, 2004
Other info: He got into TELL magazine as an underrated intern in 2002. But by dint of hardwork, perseverance and most importantly, TELL, against its hard stance of employing only graduates, gave him provisional employment in March 2004. The appointment became substantive six months later. In the last one year, he been promoted twice in TELL! For those conversant with the magazine’s rigid posturing on promotion, this is no mean feat.