Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) has announced Christiana Alabi of Daliy Trust Newspapers as its 2016 Journalist of the Year.
Daily Trust is an Abuja based Newspapers, but Alabi reports from Kaduna, northern Nigeria.
A statement by Coordinator of AMDF, Sekyen Dadik says, Mrs. Alabi clinched the position having become the choice of news consumers in Kaduna, who voted her.
“Today we announce Christiana Alabi of Daily Trust Newspapers as the ‘AMDF 2016 Journalist of the Year’.
“Mrs. Alabi emerged winner having received the highest votes cast by selected news consumers in Kaduna, northern Nigeria,” says the statement.
AMDF ‘Journalist of the Year’ project was introduced by the organisation to among others “encourage journalists working in Nigeria and Africa to adhere strictly to ethics and professionalism in the pursuit of their work.” It says.
The 2016 edition is the first of the annual ‘Journalist of the Year’ series.
AMDF is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit media development organisation that supports Journalists, Media Organisations, CSOs and promote freedom of the press.
Find below the Press Release of the announcement.
Press Release
Christiana Alabi of Daily Trust Newspapers is ‘AMDF 2016 Journalist of the Year’.
Today we announce Christiana Alabi of Daily Trust Newspapers as the ‘AMDF 2016 Journalist of the Year’.
Mrs. Alabi emerged winner having received the highest votes cast by selected news consumers in Kaduna, northern Nigeria.
AMDF introduced the ‘Journalist of the Year’ project to encourage journalists working in Nigeria and Africa to adhere strictly to ethics and professionalism in the pursuit of their work.
By this selection, news consumers are saying, Alabi had in 2016 written stories that reflected the true value of journalism, adhering to ethics in the current post-truth journalism era, when many news stories are termed fake news.
Alabi began her journalism career as an artiste in 2003. She acted in FM theatre and Play House, both Radio Nigeria programmes. During this period, she also worked as a trainee presenter of an Agricultural programme with a privately owned media outfit in Kaduna called Manix Media.
In 2009, she joined Media Trust Limited, publishers of the famous DailyTrust titles, under the best student automatic employment policy of the company.
She has attended a number of trainings organised by both local and foreign organisations, including training on basic value chain, basic journalism and ethics role of the media in conflict management and resolution, business and entrepreneurial journalism and training on zoonotic diseases among other.
Alabi is an investigative reporter to the core. Her stories especially on education and maternal health had severally prompted positive actions from Nigerian government.
A joint investigative story she did with her colleagues on Jankasa and Kakura communities of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state had attracted interventions to the communities. Two water boreholes were sunk in Kakura. The two communities also received a foreign health intervention.
In recognition of her exceptional works, she was awarded the ‘Courage In Journalism Award’ in 2016.
Alabi holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Mass Communication from Kaduna Polytechnic, Nigeria and a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in education from National Teachers Institute (NTI) Kaduna.
Signed
Sekyen Dadik
AMDF Coordinator
