Stage set for 2019 USP Journalism Awards

Last year’s recipients of the Fiji Sun Award for the Most Outstanding Journalism Student Koroi Tadulala (second from left) and Elizabeth Osifelo (second from right) with USP Journalism Programme coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh (right), Fiji Sun’s Maraia Vula (middle) and Professor David Robie (former head of the USP Journalism Programme) . Picture: WANSOLWARA FILE

By WANSOLWARA STAFF

TWELVE journalism awards will be up for grabs tonight at the 2019 USP Journalism Awards in Suva.

Organised by The University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme, the event in its 19^th year, is the longest running journalism awards in the region. It is the only awards for journalism in Fiji at the moment.

The event was supported by the Faculty of Arts, Law and Education, and the Journalism Programme under the School of Language, Arts & Media. 

Co-ordinator of the USP Journalism programme, Dr Shailendra Singh, said the prestigious event recognised and rewarded students who excelled in their coursework, and this included producing news for print, online and broadcast media.

Dr Singh said it was critical to provide students incentives to motivate them to strive for excellence.

“The students need affirmation and recognition for their efforts. That’s why the awards are very popular and that’s why we go through the trouble of organising these awards every year,” said Dr Singh.

This year, 12 categories are sponsored by the Journalism Programme’s media partners, including the Fiji Sun, which publishes and distributes the student training newspaper, Wansolwara, nation-wide.

Other major sponsors include Fiji Times Limited, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Fiji Television Limited, Mai TV, Communications Fiji Limited, Islands Business, Pacific Islands News Association and the Media Watch Group.

The event will be held at USP’s Aus-Pacific Performance Space, Laucala campus.