Over 20 individuals and corporate brands were honoured at the 2nd edition of the Guild of Photojournalists Nigeria Conference and Awards held at the Lagos Country Club on Friday December 02,2022.
The awardees cut across the media, insurance, banking, logistics, Telecoms, government agencies, Marketing and Real Estate. The roll call included the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun; Mr Femi Odugbemi, a documentary filmmaker; Mr Sam Amuka Pemu, Publisher, Vanguard Media Limited; Mrs Omotayo Omotosho, a former DG of NTDC; Mr Ademide Ajayi, a documentary photographer; Ms. Olubukola Latunji, former GM at Zenith Bank.
Others are Mr Eze Anyanwu, Media Relations Specialist; Hon. wahab Alawiye -King ,Executive Chairman, LASUBEB; Ms Abisola Olusanya, Commissioner for Agriculture.
The companies recognised are Fidelity Bank, Noah’s Ark, Pertinence Group, Airtel, IB PLC, 9Mobile, Red Star Express, Mutual Benefits Assurance PLC and First Bank.
The event which was two pronged, positioned to spotlight the general election year and address complexities of elections and challenges journalists go through. The theme: Storytelling and Associated Challenges of Security, Logistics,Education in an Election Year’ was handled by the great award winning multimedia and online journalist, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin who was the guest speaker. He reiterated the need for professionals to embrace knowledge as a tool, maintain ethos of the profession and be of good conduct during the election season.
Otufodunrin agreed that men with cameras would always be harassed and unwanted by unscrupulous elements but that their role cannot be substituted or quantified for they are the public eye. He further stressed that no photograph is worth dying for and advised visual professionals to always study their environments to ascertain their safety during their duty especially in the election year.
In his opening remarks, the chairman of the Guild of Photojournalists Nigeria, Mr Abiodun Ajala expressed his enthusiasm on the theme of the event as it addressed the perennial challenges of visual professionals who are regarded as the conscience of the nation. He glowingly expressed his satisfaction on the transformation photography has brought to millions of businesses but also identified myriads of problems faced during elections. He however expressed his profound gratitude to sponsors and partners for the 2nd edition of the conference and hoped that the partnership would remain stronger.
At the dinner and awards, the keynote speaker, Mr Femi Odugbemi who is a veteran filmmaker and Executive Producer of Zuri 24 Media in a panel session taken by the representative of the Marketing Edge advised photographers to have their work stored properly as it is the goldmine of all artists. He explained that indexing their works help pros build, keep and refresh their archives.
He maintained that visual professional without a body of work stored properly may not be able to live a comfortable lifestyle as expected due to ignorance and the need to push the frontiers of knowledge was sacrosanct.
Dr Adeboye Ola, a lecturer at Nigerian Institute of Journalism and head of jury for the 2022 Young Talent Contest whilst announcing the two undergraduates, Imisioluwa Afunmiso and Oyekan Adedayo as the first and second winners respectively from entries received commended the initiative of the association and advised that such entries would encourage more youngsters to join the photo club.
Dr. Ola also charged professionals not to stop learning as it was the best way to confront challenges faced by many in the visual profession.
The dinner/awards which was newly introduced was no doubt the highpoint of the 2022 edition. The ambience of the night no doubt lit up the captains of industry and beautiful guests who have contributed immensely in their various sectors to the state economy.
The night was not spared of glamour with octane levelled entertainment and definitely remained a talking point in the weeks to come by the attendees .
One of the awardees, Mrs Omotayo Omotosho who was honoured with the Legendary Award in Tourism category in her acceptance speech said she was elated when contacted for the award and that the only way to show her appreciation was to cut her trip short to meet up with the date of the event.
