The Pitcher Festival of Creativity hosted a winners’ reception on Friday, August 9th, 2024, at the Radisson Blu Hotel Ikeja Lagos. This event celebrated the hard work, creativity, and dedication demonstrated by each winner at the 2024 Future Creative Leaders Academy and the Young Professionals Academy. Pitcher Festival is immensely proud of all the winners and eagerly anticipates where their journeys will lead them next.
The Pitcher Festival is dedicated to nurturing and accelerating the career development of talented youths through two major platforms: the Future Creative Leaders Academy and the Young Professionals Academy. Each academy offers an intensive training programme, life-changing competitions, and connections with partner events, bringing participants together with their peers from around the world.
The FCLA awards were presented by the Dean of the 2024 Future Creative Leaders Academy, Ngozi Akinyele, Group Executive, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Coronation Group. In her remarks, she said, “To the members of the winning team from Nigeria and Romania, your work has set a new standard for what can be achieved when we embrace global collaboration. You have not only enriched your own learning but have also contributed to the broader narrative of unity and shared purpose in our industry.”
The FCLA conducted a Cultural Fusion project for the first time this year in collaboration with Godmother, Romania with university students in Nigeria and Romania. Members of the winning team in the Cultural Exchange Project are as follows:
Faderera Quadri, Pan-Atlantic University
Aanuoluwapo Oladejo, Ajayi Crowther University
Joy Bepo, Covenant University
Oladipupo Oladipupo, Fountain University
Adeola Yekinni, Olabisi Onabanjo University
Faith Ogunleye, Covenant University
Dragoș Velicu, Romanian-American University, Bucharest, Romania
David Băjan, Romanian-American University, Bucharest, Romania
Laurențiu Luican, Romanian-American University, Bucharest, Romania
Each year, the Future Creative Leaders Academy (FCLA) conducts a competition to select a student who will represent Nigeria at the prestigious Cannes Lions Roger Hatchuel Student Academy. This honor includes an all-expense-paid trip to attend the Cannes Lions Festival in France, along with stipends. Pitcher Festival extends a heartfelt thanks to MediaFuse Dentsu Nigeria for their generous sponsorship of this category. The 2024 winner is Babafemi Okeleye, from the Mass Communication Department, Ajayi Crowther University.
The 2024 FCLA Competition brief required the students to come up with strategies to promote the programme itself to their fellow students in their various tertiary institutions. The winners were announced as follows:
Bronze Medals: Boniface Abah, University of Ibadan and Afoma Nnaemeka, Covenant University
Silver Medal: Joy Bepo, Covenant University
Gold Medal: Kehinde Olawoyin, University of Ibadan
Every year, the Academy recognizes someone who goes beyond the normal call of duty to ensure that creative students become more creative. The FCLA Lecturer of the Year 2024 was awarded to Dr. Yinka Egbokhare, a lecturer at the Communication and Language Arts Department, University of Ibadan.
The Young Professionals Academy awards segment followed the FCLA Awards. The Young Professionals Academy awards were presented by Lanre Adisa, CEO/CCO Noah’s Ark Communications and President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN). In his remarks, he emphasized the importance of developing talent in the business and the need to elevate creativity in an industry that provides a greater opportunity for people to interact with art.
The Young Lions Competitors were briefed by the Rotary Club of Bombay Mulund Valley in India to develop communication interventions against Club Foot in the world, building upon their well-known work in the fight against Polio. This collaboration underscores the power of collective efforts in addressing critical health challenges.
With the large interest shown in the Young Lions Competition Media category over the years, the academy created three slots to promote greater inclusiveness: one slot for Nigeria, one slot for Ghana, and the third for the best team from other participating countries in West and Central Africa. In the absence of teams from other countries, the slot goes to the best team from the overall runner-up company. The winners for this year were as follows:
Overall Winners and Team Nigeria from MediaFuse Dentsu: Stephanie Ume and Joseph Uwandu
Team Ghana from mediaReach OMD Ghana: Bernard Kwarteng and Ewurakua Otabil
Team WECA from mediaReach OMD Nigeria: Ngozi Uwafili and Quadri Abolaji
In the Young Lions Design Competition, the winning team from Dentsu Creative, Nigeria was represented by Adebimisola Sotade.
The Young Lions Film Competition was won by Dentsu Agyle Nigeria’s team of Esther Usoro and Adaora Muoh.
In the final segment, the Young Pitcher Competitions, the competitors were briefed by Creating a Better Africa, the advocacy platform of the Pitcher Festival. The goal was for the competitors to come up with ideas, concepts, and strategies to inspire creativity and foster a sense of unity among stakeholders, emphasizing intra-connectivity within African regions and recognizing the diaspora as an integral part of the continent's fabric. The winners were:
Copywriting Category
Bronze Medal: Israel Olagunju Design (The Redwolf Company)
Silver Medal: Taiwo Fagboyo (SO&U)
Gold Medal: Amarachi Nwaozuzu (SO&U)
Design Category
Bronze Medal: Ifeanyi Akannu (Noah’s Ark Communications)
Silver Medal: Bankole Hammed (The Hook Creative Agency)
Gold Medal: Kiishi Ogedengbe (The Redwolf Company)
Digital Category
Gold Medal: Oluwasanya Oluwatoni (The Hook Creative Agency)
Silver Medal: Oluwadara Adesanya (The Hook Creative Agency)
Media Category
Gold Medal: Chidinma Ugoji-Eke (Carat Nigeria)
The winners shared their positive experiences about participating in the programme. Highlights included gaining confidence, improving in their job performance, and simply having a great time. One of the winners described the experience as “being in a fairytale.” Babafemi Okeleye, who participated in the Roger Hatchuel Student Academy in Cannes, expressed his excitement and revealed that his team won a competition during the academy programme in Cannes. This victory led to another invitation from the Saudi government to implement the idea they had created, and he would be leaving again for Saudi Arabia soon to join the rest of his team members on the project.
In closing, Dr. Nnamdi Ndu, CEO of CHINI Africa, Cannes Lions Festival representative in Nigeria, and Chairman of Pitcher Festival, congratulated the winners and expressed gratitude to the faculty and partners who contributed to the programme’s success. He reassured the winners of the festival’s ongoing support, stating, “Remember that at every stage in your career, Pitcher Festival is here to support you. From the moment you decide to join the creative industry as a university student, all the way to when you achieve the greatest heights in the industry and begin to mentor others yourself.”
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