Guild member receives Award

Didi Akinyelure (Doyin Gomes, 2001, Beale) is a graduate of chemical engineering from the University of Nottingham.  In July 2016, she won the prestigious BBC World News Komla Dumor Award, identifying her as a Future Star of African Journalism.  In 2018, Didi received the University of Nottingham Special Excellence Alumni Laureate Award.

“Today I received the Special Excellence Alumni Laureate Award at the University of Nottingham. As journalists we do not have the most glamorous jobs. We go to the places no one wants to go. We tell the stories no one wants to hear. We are pushed to the back and very often disrespected. We get a lot of slack for asking the right questions. But we do what we do because we KNOW that our job is NOT to be the story but to TELL THE STORY. Our job is not to be the light but to SHINE THE LIGHT on others and give a voice to the voiceless. So it’s a rare privilege to have the light shined on a day like this one. I’d like to thank the University of Nottingham for this incredible honour.”

“I was never the most-likely in my year to receive a Laureate award. From my 1st year in Uni, after lectures I would go to property investment seminars in town and sit at the back listening and learning. I was 19 years old. People thought I was random but it was that love for real estate investment that led me to create and pitch a TV pilot for a property show. That led to an offer from CNBC Africa and then to BBC, CNBC Europe, Reuters ... and to this moment. It shows that you must never ignore that burning feeling in your heart to do what you love even when it’s the most unpopular thing, even when others don’t understand... because you never know where it will lead you.”

Doyin Akinyelure
December 13th, 2018