Awards are better appreciated and understood when they are viewed from the lenses of professionalism and society.
It is acceptable and respected if an individual is recognised for his good works for the community; works such as awarding scholarships, donating a 50-bed hospital or simply doing things that touch lives in an enduring and admirable way.
All well and good! An award can help to draw attention to such good works as well as encourage more efforts.
However, the sophistication of today’s society is such that professional or industry awards, which recognise excellence in a specific sector of endeavour for explicit conducts and special accomplishments, are held in higher esteem.
No surprise here. It is even more respectable when such awards come from peers of those who are qualified to judge.
At a much elevated level, think of the Grammies or Oscars.
The strength of these two awards does not lie only in their indisputable razzmatazz and endurance.
There is much more to it: the storied awards are organised and presented by peers, associates who are qualified to judge.
This is precisely what Prince Supo Atobatele has attempted to do with his Air Transport Quarterly (ATQ) Magazine Awards.
The 4th edition was held in Lagos on March 6, 2025.
It does not require much stressing that it was a successful event.
But the phrase to look out for is qualified to judge.
It is no accident that I have used it twice.
In Civil Aviation, an industry which I eternally revere, there are all kinds of awards and recognitions floating around, fuelled by reasons which I have no luxury of space to list.
Most, if not all, are handed out by those who are not qualified to judge.
And what’s an award dished out by those who do not have the evaluation capacities.
A short answer is that it does the industry no good.
This is why the ATQ Magazine Awards stand out – they are products qualified minds.
Prince Atobatele has been on either side of the divide.
His illustrious aviation journalism career is well in excess of two decades.
As an Aviation reporter, writer and editor, he covered the industry extensively, exposing its weaknesses and strengths, and pointing the way forward for a better sector.
When he joined the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) as an image maker, a position he served with utmost diligence and dignity for eight years, he was simply answering a call to national (or industry?) duty.
This has therefore placed Prince Atobatele, using the platform of ATQ, in a vantage position to make informed decisions in the matter of awards and recognitions.
He has seen and observed the industry from both sides. May be there is a third side to it. Such interactions and the publication of ATQ have enabled him to keep his ear on the ground, listening and filtering views that have consistently shaped his decisions. This can only help the industry.
This is why it is difficult not to agree with Prince Atobatele for his choice of Capt. Chris Najomo, the Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, as the ATQ Man of the Year.
Congratulations are therefore in order to Capt. Najomo for his successes in the all-important work of regulating Nigeria’s Civil Aviation as well as to Prince Atobatele himself for doing such a tremendous job of consistently feeling the pulse of the industry.
This Award matters because a professional who is qualified to evaluate has selected another professional who merits it all.
.Ukpong is an aviation media expert based in Lagos.