UNN student wins CrispNG’s maiden campus journalism award

Okoye Ifeanyi Peter, a 200-level student of mass communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), has won the maiden edition of CrispNG’s maiden campus journalism award.

Peter won the award, which comes with a cash prize of N10,000, with his story on the prevalence of cohabitation across Nigerian tertiary institutions and its attendant dangers for students.

His entry was selected considering its thematic relevance, originality, and depth of field work.

Peter, 19, hails from Anambra state in Nigeria’s south-east, but he’s based in Umuahia, Abia state.

The journalism prize was introduced by CrispNG, a youth-focused media organisation, in February 2024, to motivate students bracing the odds to horn their journalistic skills and prepare them for realities after school.

The maiden edition of the award was sponsored by Okeke Chibueze, the CEO of Gold Leaf ICT centre, also a graduate of UNN.

“I really want to commend the writer’s effort in putting this report together,” Blessing Chukwuneke, CrispNG’s senior correspondent who vetted the articles, said on Peter’s story.

She added: “Other students also did well. I am proud to see the efforts of these student journalists who are combining their studies with the rigours of journalism. I am proud of all of them. My advice to them is that they should keep writing and develop themselves the more.”

‘I FEEL VERY DELIGHTED’

Speaking on emerging winner of the award, Peter appreciated CrispNG for the initiative. He added that the award will motivate him to do more as a campus journalist.

“I feel very delighted to win CrispNG’s campus journalism contest. I will call it a pyrrhic victory because a lot of efforts was also put into this by my fellow students and campus journalists. I thank the CrispNG team for this initiative. This particular initative is geared towards promoting campus journalism and preparing students for the Fourth Estate at the labour market.

“I thank CrispNG once again for giving me and others a platform to showcase our writing skills. I also appreciate the company for nurturing talents from the Union of Campus Journalist at the University of Nigeria. This is a right step in a right direction.”

CrispNG has organised trainings for campus journalists from various universities across Nigeria in the past.

Earlier this year, it held a virtual training for UNN students tagged: “Campus Journalism: Opportunities, Challenges & Life After Varsity”.

The training, held in collaboration with the Union of Campus Journalists at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UCJ-UNN), has produced great results.

Shortly after the training, Ndidiamaka Ede, one of the participants, was selected for the 2024 Empowering Women in the Media Cohort (EWMC) workshop organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).

Ede, who is the outgoing president of UCJ-UNN, was also selected for the 2024 edition of Nigeria Investigates Fellowship organised by Tiger Eye Foundation, a media non-profit founded by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the celebrated Ghanaian journalist.