Category: Art, Media & Entertainment

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has won the maiden edition of the Young Creative Awards (YouCrea) with a 1 million Naira prize organised by O2 Academy School of Advertising in Lagos.

The competition featured outstanding final year students of UNILAG, Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).

The competitors, who were into three teams – Star Wars (UNILAG), Avatar (Yabatech) and Matrix (NIJ) – were earlier hosted to an all-expense paid one-week boot camp by O2 Academy for “hands-on” training by advertising practitioners.

They produced advertising briefs against smoking in partial commemoration of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) World “No Tobacco Day” marked every May 31.

UNILAG’s 15-minute campaign, with the theme: Go Ahead, Smoke Yourself to Death, was adjudged the best by a panel of judges comprising the managing directors Creative Zone, Extreme Ideas, 141 Worldwide and Black Sea Communications, among other advert agencies.

Founder of O2 Academy, Ozoemene Mbanefo, who presented the award, said the next edition of YouCrea will include competitors from the University of Nigeria at Nsukka (UNN), University of Ibadan (UI) and the University of Benin (UNIBEN).

Mr. Ozoemene Mbanefo added;

“We felt a need to take advertising to higher institutions. The only way we can do so is to bring in some form of competition because competition is very healthy and it inspires people to do more.

So, Young Creative Awards is simply to inspire schools to inspire interest among more young, talented people in advertising, making advertising more ‘cool’ and interesting again.

I think more schools should engage YouCrea because that way we have a platform that connects the town and gown.”

UNILAG’s team of five students comprised Mass Communications students Abidemi Adesokan, Aboaba Tunde, Omomoh Tamara, Misturah Owolabi and Onike Qudus.

Akwaeke Emezi has emerged the African region winner for the 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize with her work – Who is Like God.

Commonwealth Writers has partnered with Granta magazine to give regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize the opportunity to be published by Granta online. Akwaeke Emezi’s Who is Like God as well as the work of other regional winners will be published on www.granta.com every Tuesday from 30 May until 27 June (‘Who is Like God’, Akwaeke Emezi – 13 June), in order from East to West across the Commonwealth.

Another Nigerian who also was part of the shortlist is Kelechi Njoku with the story – By Way of a Lifeplot.

Ingrid Persaud from Trinidad and Tobago won the 2017 Commonwealth Writers’ Short Story Prize for “Sweet Sop” – a story exploring harrowing themes of fractured families, death and terminal illness, through the medium of chocolate.

Jowhor Ile, has emerged winner of the 2016 Etisalat Literature Prize for his book: And after Many Days, published in Nigeria by Kachifo Limited, which depicts originality of voice, literary excellence and African sensibility.

Jowhor Ile becomes the first Nigerian to win the award as past winners of the Prize: Fiston Mwanza Mujila from The Democratic Republic of Congo (Tram 83; 2015); South African novelist Songeziwe Mahlangu (Penumbra, 2014) and Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo (We Need New Names, 2013).

As winner, Jowhor Ile receives £15,000, an engraved Montblanc Meisterstück pen, an Etisalat sponsored book tour to three African countries.

He will also have an Etisalat-sponsored fellowship at the University of East Anglia, mentored by Professor Giles Foden, author of “The Last King of Scotland”.

The runners-up include; Jacqui L’Ange’s (South Africa) “The Seed Thief” and another Nigerian Juliet Iromuanya’s “Mr and Mrs Doctor”.

The other runners-up will also enjoy a sponsored multi-city book tour while Etisalat will also purchase 1,000 copies of their books for distribution to schools, libraries and book clubs across Africa with the objective of promoting the reading culture and the publishing industry at large.

SO&U, an M&C Saatchi Partner creative agency has won the 2017 Emerald award of the African Cristal Festival for its Globacom Telecommunications ‘Grandpa Goes to London’ campaign in the Main – Continental – Awards category.

SO&U under the leadership of its celebrated Creative Director, Anthony Ekun was also shortlisted this year, 2017 for its innovative Glo Hamma campaign dubbed ‘Jenifa’.

Continue reading SO&U Wins 2017 African Cristal Festival Emerald Award

Nigerian-born British Actress, Wunmi Mosaku wins the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA Award) for the best supporting actress for her role in 2016’s BBC drama Damilola, Our Loved Boy, in which she played Gloria Taylor, the mother of the murdered schoolboy.

PR and Communication Company, Red Media Africa, has been announced winner of the Gold SABRE Awards for Public Relations Campaigns [2017].

The company led the West Africa category for its work on Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s inaugural visit to Nigeria in 2016, while StateCraft Inc., its governance consulting affiliate was recognized with a Certificate of Excellence for leading the communication campaign of Nana Akufo-Addo in Ghana’s 2016 presidential elections.

With this award, Red Media Africa emerged the only Nigerian PR & Communication company among the shortlist of winners at the globally recognised awards.

The University of Michigan has named Dayo Aiyetan, Executive Director, International Center for Investigative Reporting, Abuja, Nigeria as one of its Fellow for its Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship Programme for the 2017-2018 academic year. The group, which includes 12 Americans and seven international journalists, is the 44th class of journalism fellows at the University.

Dayo Aiyetan’s study project is Advancing best practices for whistle blowing platforms to support investigative reporting in Nigeria.

Knight-Wallace Fellows spend an academic year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to pursue individual study plans and to engage in collaborative learning through fellowship seminars, training workshops and travel. Through twice-weekly seminars, Fellows engage with visiting journalists, eminent scholars and creative thinkers from a range of fields. Weeklong international news tours provide broader context to political, economic and social forces shaping their fields of study, and to trends and challenges facing journalism in other countries.

The program is based at Wallace House, a gift from the late newsman Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary. Knight-Wallace Fellows receive a stipend of $70,000 for the eight-month academic year plus full tuition and health insurance. The programme is entirely funded through endowment gifts by foundations, news organizations and individuals committed to improving the quality of information reaching the public.