Journalism is long-time a passion for me. So my joy knew no bounds when I was offered admission to study Information and Media Studies, at the Bayero University Kano (BUK’s) Faculty of Communication.
During the orientation exercise organized for the 100-level of my department, Mallam Yushau Shuaib of PR Nigeria and Economic Confidential Magazine, urged the students to be acquainted with the dynamic and revolutionary changes in communication midwifed by technology.
Shuaib added: “The social media has taken over the way and manner we communicate. In today’s world, we should never ignore the potentials of the large population of social media users, the reliability of instant information, the accessibility to timely response to enquiries and the opportunity to share Data and Media Sharing Platforms.’
Mallam Shuaib later created a blog for us, where he selected some of us to be posting on different things such as entertainment, sports, news, campus, health, politics, international, interviews and several others
After some later, I encountered a report on Youths Digest, online newspaper in Abuja, asking interested students to fill in their details for the 2019 Campus Journalism Awards (CJA) that will take place. I really surprise and at the same time felt happy. I filled the form on the site with my details such as my name phone number, institution, category I belong, my email.
After, I received a text telling me that my entry was successful. Few months ahead I received a message on my email saying, “we are very pleased to receive your submitted article(s), among the over 200 entries sent between November 1st to 30th, 2018, for the Campus Journalism Awards 2019.
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I was very excited and prayed to be among the finalists. But then I became so hardworking was posting regularly on the blog. Few months later, I again received a message on my mail saying, “Congratulations you are a finalist with your entry for the Campus Journalism Awards (CJA 2019) which is organized by the Publishers of Youths Digest.”
On the 18th of January 2019, I travelled to Abuja for the award ceremony. And at 9:30 after we all gathered to take our dinner in downstairs of the hotel. One of the organizers who’s also in charge controlling & taking care of all the finalist arrived in front of our door and said we should all check our emails there is a message for us. I checked my email and later discovered a written text directing us to write on a topic called “Anti-Corruption Measures towards transparent, peaceful and credible 2019 General Election”. The article should be 700 words maximum, and the article must be submitted latest by 8.00am Saturday morning of January 19, before the Interactive Workshop at PR Nigeria Office.
I wrote the article and submitted it around 1:30am lately in the night.
While speaking at the workshop organized for the 30 finalists, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz of Premium Time said accuracy, clarity, originality, creativity and unique style of delivery, were the criteria used to assess all entries, and selection of the final awardees.
After the keynote address the presentation of awards followed. I was really shocked and hoping that I will be among the winners. I thought I was dreaming when I heard my name been called as the winner of Best Entertainment Writer. I stood up and walked slowly to the podium amidst excitement.
After the presentation of awards we had refreshments and took pictures. Later in the evening there was a barbecue party for us, and we also received the handsome cash of 10,000 for transport to our various destinations. Early Sunday morning, the 21st of January we all left our hotel rooms, and I travelled back to Kano. The CJA was indeed a memorable adventure for me, which I never forget in my life.
