-Oyekola AbdulMuizz
Two members of the Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ibadan (UCJUI), Adebayo Abdulrahman and Tijani Abdulkabeer, have been shortlisted in two and a category respectively for the 2022 Alfred Opubor Next-Gen CJID Campus Reporter Awards.
Adebayo, who doubles as UCJUI Features Editor and Indy Press Politics Editor, was shortlisted in the ‘Best Conflict Story’ award category for his entry “Beyond Numbers (I): Distraught Family, Scheduled Wedding…Victims Of Owo Massacre” and in the ‘Best Fact Check’ category for his entry “Fact-check: No, Buhari Did Not Lift 10.5 Million Nigerians Out Of Poverty In Two Years”, while Tijani, who is Afas Press News Editor, was shortlisted in the ‘Best Health Reporting’ category for his entry “Health tech: A non-profit is using artificial intelligence to link blood donors”.
The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)’s Annual Alfred Opubor Next-Gen Campus Reporter Awards, named after the late Alfred Opubor, Nigeria’s first professor of Mass Communication, in honour of his pioneering contributions to journalism, is a project to encourage and inspire top campus journalists in Nigeria Institutions with a burning passion for journalism to successfully navigate Nigeria’s media mainstream.
This year’s edition of the award generated 164 entries from campus journalists in 53 tertiary institutions in Nigeria with the most entries summing up to 74 from the South-West, followed by 38 entries from the North-West, 21 entries from the North-Cental, 8 from the South-South, and 6 each from the South-East and North-East.
According to the press release made by the award organisers in the early hours of Friday, November 25, only 25 entries were found outstanding and worthy of selection.
“Following six weeks of rigorous selection and review of entries by a five-person panel of judges spread across the academia, newsroom and media development sector, 25 outstanding entries were selected as best across nine competitive award categories,” the press release reads.
First-place winners and the overall best campus journalist for the year will be revealed on the 2nd of December at the Treasure Suites Hotel, Central Business District, Abuja.
