The Journalism Programme at the Durban University of Technology’s (DUT) Department of Media, Language and Communications hosted its annual Journalism Students Achievement Awards at the DUT City Campus Arthur Smith Hall, recently
Journalism lecturer, Sphumelele Zondi, welcomed the guests and students to the exciting event to celebrate students’ academic achievements. He congratulated the Bachelor of Journalism and the Bachelor of Journalism Honours students that would be receiving awards and encouraged all the students to continue working hard and achieving their best results. Recent DUT Journalism graduate and one of the guest speakers, Thakasani Khumalo, who hails from KwaNongoma and now works as a reporter for Isolezwe Newspaper assured the students that they were in safe hands at DUT Journalism and he was proof of that.
“Being a journalist is one of the most important jobs, when you are a journalist you feed people current news, without journalists many people would not be aware of everything that is happening. DUT made me the man I am today, my love for journalism developed at a very young age and I enrolled at DUT in 2019 where I had the best years of my life. I learnt everything that I use today at DUT Journalism. I would like to assure you that if you are at DUT you are in safe hands. The lecturers know how to take care of their students, I am proof of that,” he said.
Another DUT alumni, the Head of Public Relations and Communications, Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, Pinky Radebe, mentioned that being a journalist is an important job and journalism students must always remember that they are people with influence and they are not influencers
“I am very proud to be standing here, in front of Mrs Soobben in particular, indeed I am DUT. At the Tourism KwaZulu-Natal we have the corporate office known as the CEO’s office. I started work as a secretary in the CEO’s office, using my journalism skills. I used the journalism 5w’s and H to influence, to write and to do business writing, so all the skills that we received at DUT we use everywhere we go. Tourism KwaZulu-Natal has developed a strong relationship with e DUT Journalism because we use media across all channels in marketing KwaZulu-Natal as a tourism destination therefore it makes sense that we also assist in developing DUT students. As journalists always remember that through your writing, photography and videography you have the opportunity to influence people’s thinking and opinions hence you need to use your skills and creativity ethically. Lastly, I want to remind you of something my former lecturers used to tell us, that as a journalist you make the story you do not become the story,” mentioned Radebe.
Siyabonga Majozi, the overall top achiever who received the Best Academic Performance award for 2022,who also graduated cum laude with a Dean’s Merit award at the 2022 Autumn Graduation said that all the hard work that he put in finally paid off.
“I felt really amazing being recognised as being the best. All the sleepless nights putting in the hard work definitely felt worth when I walked up the stage to collect my award. It is definitely my biggest achievement, I will always be recognised as the first person to do it in the Bachelor of Journalism at DUT, I made history and I am very proud of myself,” Majozi said.
Pictured: Some of the winners at the awards ceremony.
Sthembile Ndlovu
