Daily Post Journalist Wins Major USP Awards

SUVA: A Fiji Daily Post journalist Wainikiti Bogidrau today scooped four academic gold medals, including the top campus honour, at the University of the South Pacific's annual graduation ceremony.

Recently promoted as the newspaper's acting chief subeditor, Ms Bogidrau won the best population studies gold medal, was the best sociology student, and was jointly the best school of social and economic development student.

But her highest honour was winning the Vice-Chancellor's gold medal and the Colonial Prize of F$1500 for the most outstanding academic and community service record for a female student.

No award was made in this category for a male student.

Salesh Kumar won the inaugural gold medal for the best graduating journalism student.

Kumar, who is a Hindi news reader for Fiji Television, also won the Newsroom Tanoa and The Review/FijiLive.com prize of $500.

Jilda Shem, of Vanuatu, won the Storyboard Award and Daily Post Prize of $350 for outstanding regional journalism.

A total of 15 students graduated, all but one of them in a BA degree with journalism majors.

The fifteenth student, from Fiji, gained the Diploma in Pacific Journalism. The diploma is especially geared for part-time media industry students.

Out of the degree graduates, 12 were from Fiji, one from the Solomon Islands and one from Vanuatu.

Many already have media jobs and one is working on assignment for Radio Australia.

Journalism coordinator David Robie said this was a high achievement in a year when the Fiji and Solomon Islands political crises had seriously disrupted education.

"USP is making quite a contribution to the region with the highest number of degree graduate journalists for the industry in the past three years," he said.

He also praised the Daily Post's commitment to raising the educational qualifications of its staff.

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