" ITREALMS: Nigerian youth wins WSIS award

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Thursday, November 24, 2005

Nigerian youth wins WSIS award

Eighteen years old Nigerian, Samuel Oloyede Odofin, has emerged the second prize winner for the development category of the World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) held as part of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society WSIS-05 in Tunis.

His emergence was based on the entry, Biotechnology: The
Food solution (www.odofin.com).

The campaign he started three years ago, had earlier grabbed awards such as the Microsoft unlimited potential motandao Afrika Internet challenge, resource site awards, golden web award and the cable and wireless childnet academy awards.

The project which was described as an interactive website designed according to the award organisers, was to raise awareness on the use of agricultural biotechnology in combating food shortages and insecurity in Africa.

Managed from the city of Kaduna in northern Nigeria, Odofin’s project scaled through amidst 299 others from over 70 countries of the world.

Speaking to Champion Infotel afterwards, Odofin said he was honoured when the information came that he won the award, which he saw as a privilege and opportunity.

"I felt extremely honored when I was informed that I was one of the
best multimedia developers in the world. I looked at it first as a privilege and secondly as an opportunity to tell the world that good things still comes out of the slum," he asserted.
Award organisers, the International Centre for New Media (ICNM), said that the exercise was put in place to inspire internet content from innovative youth of the world.

Project manager of ICNM, Mr. Thomas Biebl, disclosed that the award has availed them the opportunity to see online music communities, digital design training for slum youth, interactive gaming platforms e-learning flash applications and an HIV/AIDS information portal to name just a few.

The top three projects, he explained, in each WSYA category were focused on development, creativity and culture as well as community engagement.
He stressed, it is a global initiative to select and promote the world’s best in e-Content and creativity. Short URLs: goo.gl, mcaf.ee, cli.gs

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