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Around 10 delighted University of the South Pacific journalism students received accolades during their awards night on Friday.
Hosted by the USP Journalism Students’ Association, the event was attended by the chief guest, the American Ambassador to Fiji Steven McGann, and the acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Law, Dr Akanisi Kedrayate.
News media companies, civil society organisations, USP staff and USP journalism students - both current and former - were also well-represented.
Opening the awards night, the head of journalism at USP, Shailendra Singh, said 2009 had been a “very satisfying year” with the division active in USP’s key strategic areas such as learning and teaching, student support, community outreach, regional and community engagement and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
“We have organised seminars, published a special edition of the journal Fijian Studies, published newspapers and arranged local and overseas attachments for students,” he said.
Singh added that a new arrangement with the Fiji Sun to print and distribute Wansolwara, the USP journalism training newspaper, as an insert was a breakthrough for the programme.
“This gives the paper a much wider readership and with it, provides the challenge for students to lift performance and quality,” Singh said.
Another breakthrough was the sponsoring of a second year student, Rashneel Kumar, by a Cook Islands newspaper, Cook Islands News, to cover the Pacific Mini Games.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), meanwhile, invited third-year student Rachna Lal to a climate change forum in Apia and will sponsor her trip to Copenhagen to report on the biggest climate change meeting since Kyoto.
“This is a major show of confidence in a young student journalist,” said Singh.
He added that USP students have been producing quality journalism.
An investigation into online gaming addiction among youths led to a police crackdown on gaming centres while another story on how the legal marriageable age for girls at 16 was leading to their exploitation has resulted in the law being changed in Fiji.
There were ten major awards and three certificates up for grabs on Friday.
The winners:
· Fiji Times Award for the Most Promising First Year Student: Jasvin Lala (Fiji)
· Communications Fiji Limited Prize for the Best Radio Student: Fenton Lutunatabua (Fiji)
· Fiji TV Prize for the Best TV Student: Kelera Serelini (Fiji)
· Islands Business International Prize for Best Feature story: Kalpana Prasad, Rachna Lal and Sharishma Kumari (Fiji)
· Fiji Sun Prize for Best Sports Reporting: Rashneel Kumar (Fiji)
· Radio Fiji All Media Achievement Award: Kalpana Prasad/ Nancy Nawalowalo (Fiji)
· The Faculty of Arts and Law Prize for most Improved Student: Repeka Nasiko (Fiji)
· Storyboard Award/Pacific Islands News Association Prize for Best Regional Reporting: Leni Dalavera & Vincent Obimae (Solomon Islands)
· Mai TV/Mai Life prize for best in-depth news story: Fenton Lutunatabua & Arin Kumar (Fiji)
· Fiji Sun/Newsroom Tanoa Award for Journalism Student of the Year: Rachna Lal (Fiji)
