LASU Student Wins Big At The Annual Campus Journalists Award Ceremony

It has been quite a year for the Lagos State University as one of its outstanding students, Ileyemi Mariam Omotoyosi, a recent graduate of the Mass Communication Department wins the best campus photojournalist award for the year.

At the Campus Journalists Award Ceremony held on Saturday, December 13, 2020, at Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja, Mariam Ileyemi, was announced as the winner of the award for the best Photojournalist for her immeasurable skills in the art of photojournalism portrayed in the photo story published on her blog, despite the tedious selection process. 

The event was organised by News Digest, an online newspaper aimed at disseminating news stories and grooming campus journalist across institutions in Nigeria.

Ileyemi Mariam was the former Deputy Editor of the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ) in LASU and she is one of the 2019 beneficiaries of the Mamman Marshall Scholarship For Women in Journalism, MMSWJ. She is also a  blogger who began blogging while she was in 200 level and owns a personal blog, “Yossy Info” where she lends a voice to the voiceless and also embarks on charity events. She is currently a writing fellow at the African Liberty.

In an interview with her, she said: “I felt so excited to have been announced the winner of the Photojournalist category with a story published on my blog and grateful for the feeling that my efforts count.” 

She also revealed the secret behind her victory, saying, “While on campus, I dedicated more of my time to personal development, I enjoyed attending events a lot, I report events voluntarily on campus and I was known for that. From volunteering effortlessly to winning journalism scholarship and now the campus journalism awards is only by God’s Grace.”

Mariam also gave special recognition to the pillars which supported her journey, explaining: “A lot of people contributed to my victory, my lecturers, like Dr Tunde Akanni, Prof Jide Jimoh, Mr Olasunkanmi Arowolo, and so on, throughout my undergraduate days in LASU. They all contributed one way or the other and I am grateful for their impact. I am also grateful for the contributions of Ibrahim Adeyemi, Agobami Okerinde, Afeez Rabiu, Wendy Joseph and Kareem Azeez, they made it happen.”

“My next step is to keep the good work going, acquire new skills to help me flourish in the media world outside school.”