By Princewill Ekwujuru

Discerning companies all over the world engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to bring about sustainable developments in the community where they operate. These activities usually are targeted at promoting and managing the company’s commitment to society for the inherent value of obtaining positive perception and growing the company’s clout.

The overall objective of CSR is to obtain favourable licence to operate within communities, with other stakeholders and in society at large.

CSR initiatives of companies have been known to be wide-ranging and cover critical infrastructure like roads, electricity, markets, civic centres, education, health, skill acquisition, employment, water supply, among others.

Some companies have even directed their CSR activities to impact the lives of media practitioners positively. Hence, platforms are being created by these organizations on both international and national level to reward and recognize outstanding performance among journalists.

The engagements is coming in form of awards of excellence or training for journalists by these organizations to help improve the level of professionalism in journalism.

CSR initiatives
For instance, CNN African Journalist of the Year Competition which was established in August 1995 to encourage, promote and recognise excellence in African journalism is one of the good examples of media engagement that have affected African journalists positively since inception.

Also, every year; Citibank hosts Citi Journalism Awards of Excellence for journalists across the globe. The prize is a prestigious 10-day study tour for journalists from around the world at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York.

Launched in Australia in 1993, the Awards now attract more than 60 entries each year in five award categories – The Economy, Financial Markets, General Business, Broadcast Media and Personal Finance

In Nigeria the need for organisations to be more socially responsible is growing by the day as some corporate establishments in the country are responding positively to this in different ways. Some are doing this by organising training for journalists while others have instituted media awards. Some of these include Nigerian Breweries Plc Golden Pen Award, a yearly competition open to all print journalists in the country, Liberty Merchant Award for Financial Journalists, Diamond Bank Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism and Wole Soyinka Investigative Reporting Award (WSIRA), among others.
Quill Awards

Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell Milk has also joined the fray of such platforms by launching the Promasidor Quill Awards. These Awards which were launched at the Promasidor Media Brand Academy in March, 2012 are annual awards that will add more depth and reward reporting excellence in journalism.