Frontline multi-talented print and broadcast journalist, Frank Meke, has won the 2024 Pioneer Tourism Journalism leadership award instituted by the National Tourism Transportation  Awards, a corporate flagship arm of Institute of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria ( ITPN).

Meke, who cut his journalism teeth at Vanguard Newspapers and helped pioneer  the Newspaper’s  famous  National award winning Travel and Tourism Pages, is also a  pioneer awardee of Nigerian Travel Journalism award by National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies ( NANTA), and a Tourism Advocate awardee by National Association of Nigeria Tour Operators (NATOP) and many others for his incisive developmental reports on the industry for over three decades.  

Widely travelled and Nigerian tourism centric, Meke is a notable cultural tourism columnist and broadcaster, pioneering Nigeria’s  first cultural tourism broadcast programme on Radio. Meke, a  maritime tourism influencer, is also a certified Nature Conservation educationist and  mobilizer, is a  trustee of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN) and National Association of Tourist Boat  Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria (ATBOWATON).

In a letter dated November 22nd, 2024, and signed by Shettima  Abdullahi,  Fellow Institute of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (FITPN) for the organisers of award, Meke was nominated for the Pioneer Tourism Journalism leadership award based on his achievements and demonstration of high level of excellence and standards in the reportage and interpretation of travel tourism,  transportation and hospitality sectors of Nigerian economy. 

The award will be conferred on Meke on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, during the Dinner and Gala Night of National Tourism Transportation Summit in Abuja.