2023 FCLA: Covenant University bag awards

It was a triple-dimension of awards for Covenant University when one of her students, a faculty, and the institution bagged awards at the 2023 Future Creative Leader Academy (FCLA) competition.

A final-year student of Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, Mary Kanyinsola Owolabi, came out tops to clinch the gold medal in the competition. Miss Owolabi emerged as the overall winner of the students’ competition.

Participating students were tasked with creating an ingenious intervention idea on behalf of “Creating a Better Africa” to sustain attention on the plight of people living in flood-prone regions of the country.

The initiative, which featured competitions, seminars, and workshops, was designed for students in universities and other tertiary institutions across the country. Covenant University won the FCLA Best School of the Year 2023 as representatives of the University were judged to have garnered the most combined scores and points in the competition.

Dr. Kehinde Oyesomi, a lecturer and Head, Department of Mass Communication, Covenant University, was awarded the FCLA Lecturer of the Year 2023 for her supervisory responsibilities to the overall winning student. Dr. Oyesomi supervised the student who won the gold medal until the end of the competition.

The Future Creative Leaders Academy is a youth programme of the Pitcher Festival of Creativity designed for students in universities and other tertiary institutions. It provides a platform for intensive learning, discovering talents, and inspiring and immersing hopeful professionals into the world of advertising and marketing communications.

This year’s edition of the programme started in March with pre-festival seminars and workshops, before participants were invited to attend the grand finale pitchers’ festival between May 18th and 20th, with competition winners announced at the event.

The 2023 contest featured several institutions across government and private ownership, such as the University of Lagos, Lagos State University, University of Ibadan, University of Ilorin, Pan-Atlantic University, Ajayi Crowther University, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Fountain University, and Lagos State University of Science and Technology.

Receiving faculty members and students representatives of the Department of Mass Communication, the Vice-Chancellor of Covenant, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, along with other members of management congratulated Dr Oyesomi and the entire Department for representing the University well. Professor Adebayo said the awards is a further testament to the robust academic curriculum of the University, which, according to him, is designed to prepare graduates of the institution for the world of work.

It will be recalled that Covenant University dominated the award categories in 2020, when Ayobami Olajide, a student of the institution, clinched the gold medal while the University coasted home with the Best School of the Year award.