IFEANYI NDUKWE
Nigerian writer and journalist, Izunna Okafor, has been awarded the Outstanding Indigenous Language Media Content Creator of the Year in the 2022 Anambra Media/Movie Excellence Awards.
The annual award event, which held in Awka, Anambra State capital on Sunday night, was organized by the Association of Digital Media Core Advocates (ADMCA) and also saw other individuals and media firms emerge winners in different categories.
Speaking at the event, Founder and National President of the Association of Digital Media Core Advocates (ADMCA), Dr Harris Chuma-Odili, said the Association is at the centre of changing the narrative in the media landscape by engaging ethics, transparency and integrity in the media ecosystem; while the Anambra Media/Movie Excellence Awards, which is currently in its 4th edition, recognizes and rewards media professionals who are doing outstandingly well in the media industry.
Earlier speaking, the Director-General of ADMCA, Comrade (Mrs.) Ada Nwanagum, who hinted that media and movie practitioners are respected for the values they add to the society, further explained that awardees for this year’s edition were drawn from both media and movie industries, as well as some outstanding individuals who were given Special Recognition awards.
The well-attended event, which also featured a paper presentation by Ostende Udoka, had many dignitaries, top government functionaries, media experts, Nollywood stars, and other members of the public in attendance.
Aside Izunna Okafor, who was awarded the Outstanding Indigenous Language Media Content Creator of the Year 2022; other awardees and awards announced at the event include a federal lawmaker, Hon. Chris Azubogu (Best Media-Friendly Lawmaker of the Year, 2022); Benneth Nwankwo (Outstanding Movie Maker 2022); ABS FM Radio Awka (Best Radio Station 2022); Engr. Dr. Agbili Martin Agbili (Special Recognition Award); TEET Dept. AIRS (Best Online Media Team 2022); Amb. Clemson Cornell (Special Recognition Award); Comr. Onwuzulike John Udemezue (Best Journalist 2022); Innocent Nduanya (Special Recognition Award); Ikeanyionwu Love Nma (Outstanding Social Media Influencer); Emeka McPherson Ernest Maduka (Upcoming Actor of the Year 2022), among others.
Addressing newsmen shortly after receiving the Award, Izunna Okafor, who is also a diglot writer, the 2015 Winner of Nigerian Writers Award and a 2022 Fellow of Ebedi International Writers Residency, said the newest award made it a total of 35 national and international awards he has won in journalism and creative writing.
While appreciating the organizers of the Award, Okafor, who has authored and edited many books in Igbo and English languages, with over a thousand online publications, said the Award would spur him to do more, especially in the area of writing in Igbo language.
Recall that Okafor is the Founder of the Chinua Achebe Literary Festival and Memorial Lecture, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of the Chinua Achebe Poetry/Essay Anthology, which is an international poetry and essay anthology published in honour of Chinua Achebe.
At the Anambra Newspapers and Printing Corporation where he works as journalist, he is a reporter in both English and Igbo languages, as well as the Anchor of Ka Ọ Dị Taa newspaper, which is the only Igbo language newspaper currently in existence anywhere in the world.
He is also the Managing Editor of Igbo Radio, an online newspaper headquartered in Canada; and a freelance journalist for many local and international news platforms.