In accordance with its mandate of training, monitoring and enforcing professional practice, the Osun State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) will hold its maiden Public Relations Pitching competition on 13th May 2023.
Tagged “Osun PR Challenge”, it will hold at the Opolo Global Innovation Hub of Osun State University’s Main Campus, Osogbo between 10 am and Noon.
The PR Challenge is borne out of the need to bridge the gap between the knowledge of the industry taught in the classroom and the practical application, as well as expose the students to the rudiments of planning and pitching PR campaigns for organisations.
The Chairman of Osun State NIPR chapter, Ademola Adesoji highlighted its objectives of the event, and urged participants to be original with their PR plans and avoid plagiarism. He also revealed the benefits that participants stand to gain from their interaction with industry experts at the competition.
Adesoji said: “The Osun PR Challenge is open to students of Mass Communication in Osun State, and is organised not only to galvanize the interest of the participating students in the profession, but also to expose them to industry leaders and opportunities in the profession while still in school.
“We have noticed that there is a gross misconception about Public Relations, hence the reason why we have partnered with top PR firms like Brooks and Blake and Wild Media Africa to organize this competition. Their top executives would be bringing their wealth of experience to the table as panelists to judge the pitching of the participants and correct any misconception they may have heard about the profession. Other than the networking opportunities, there would be mouthwatering financial rewards for the first, second and third placed PR agencies”.
“I want to use this medium to appeal to the participants to be innovative thinkers and be original in their designed plan to solve the problem sent to them in the company brief. The right attitude to work is encouraged, as this is what they would take into the field when they become licensed practitioners”.
Adesoji urged interested participants to pick up the registration forms from their Heads of Department.
Four criteria would be used to select the winner of the pitch: Presentation skills, Analytical Thinking Skills, Creativity, and Appropriateness of the suggested PR plan to solving the problem.
