Category: Art, Media & Entertainment

Ifetayo Ali-Landing, a 14-year-old cellist, recently won first place in the junior division at the prestigious Annual Sphinx Competition with her performance of Lalo’s Concerto in D Minor.

Her win includes a cash prize of $10,000, performances with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, participation with the Sphinx Soloist Program Partners, solo appearances with major orchestras, and a radio interview on “From the Top,” a nationally-broadcast music program.

The national Sphinx Competition provides young Black and Latino classical string instrument musicians the opportunity to compete under the guidance of an internationally-renowned panel of judges and perform with established professional musicians.

Ifetayo Ali-Landing is the Junior Division 1st Place Laureate of the 2017 Annual Sphinx Competition and performed as soloist with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Detroit.  She is also the Junior Division 2nd Place Laureate of the 2016 Sphinx Competition. She was selected as one of the winners of the 2016 DePaul Concerto Festival for Young Performers competition and performed as soloist with the Festival’s Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra. Over the years, she has placed or received honorable mentions for the Society of American Musicians (SAM) competition, Depaul Concerto Festival for Young Musicians competition, and the Music Festival in Honor of Confucius competition.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has emerged the 2017 One Book, One New York Winner with her book; Americanah.

One Book, One New York is a program in which residents of all five boroughs are encouraged to read the same book at the same time. Because it is challenging to choose one book for eight million readers, the organizers held a vote. The five contenders included:

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.  The five finalists make a wonderful set of books with much in common. They are all moving, thought-provoking, seriously well-written reflections on race, identity, society and culture.

Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie has been elected into the 2017 American Academy of Arts and Letters as a foreign honorary member.

The objective of the Academy include to “foster and sustain an interest in Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts” by administering over 70 awards and prizes, exhibiting art and manuscripts, funding performances of new works of musical theatre, and purchasing artwork for donation to museums across the country.

This induction will make Chimamanda the second Nigerian to be inducted into the academy after Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, was inducted in 1986.

Ms. Helen Oyeyemi, the author of the globally acclaimed novel, “The Icarus Girl”, has been declared winner of the PEN America OPEN BOOK Award 2017 for her 2016 book “What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours” with a cash prize of $5,000.

She won the prize for the category of the “Exceptional Book-Length Work of Literature By An Author of Color Published In 2016”.

The judges for the category were Ishmael Beah, Major Jackson and Bich Minh Nguyen.

Continue reading “What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours”

2016 Dstv Eutelsat Star Award (Poster Category) – Emmanuel Ochenjele

Emmanuel Ochenjele was awarded for his depiction of a constellation of diverse satellites all contributing towards the advancement of solutions to challenges such as global warming, conservation of biodiversity and stable energy supply.

He will visit Eutelsat in Paris to understand how satellites are operated, as well as a satellite factory. Aobakwe Letamo from Botswana was the runner up in the same category. The four winning schools attended by the overall award winners and runners-up were also rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, TV set, PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.

Claudie Haigneré, Europe’s leading female astronaut and now special advisor to the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), chaired the jury of the Awards for the first time.

Continue reading Emmanuel Ochenjele Wins 2016 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards (Poster Category)

2016 MAN Reporter of the Year (Television category)

Abiola Ismail – TVC

2016 MAN Reporter of the Year (Newspaper category)

Odinaka Anudu – BusinessDay

Awarded for his incisive and in-depth reporting and analysis of relevant issues in the manufacturing sector – going an extra mile to do in-depth reporting and analyses of issues and policies affecting the manufacturing sector as well as for conducting relevant interviews and effectively utilising the Association’s position papers and publications. Odinaka Anudu, BusinessDay’s editorial analyst, covers Industry and SMEs. A holder of Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Master of Science degree in Development Economics, Anudu has been trained by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) on Trade Negotiation. He was formerly the secretary-general of the National Drug Abuse Control Association. He has received several training programmes in journalism.

The winners were announced at the 2017 MAN annual media luncheon held in Ikeja, Lagos.

Long Throat Memoirs: Soup, Sex and Nigerian Taste Buds – a book authored by Nigerian food essayist, Yemisi Aribisala and published by Cassava Republic Press has won the prestigious John Avery Award (2016) in the United Kingdom (UK) at the Andre Simon Food and Drink Awards for its originality in style and contents.

Yemisi Aribisala is the first black African to win the award as Long Throat Memoirs: Soup, Sex and Nigerian Taste Buds according to the author “collates Nigerian food stories into an irresistible soup-pot in love language of appetite & nourishment”.