AUCKLAND: A former contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch project was honoured last night at the annual AUT University awards for the School of Communication Studies.
Josephine Latu received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Research for a masters thesis on Tongan culture, media and democracy and sent some words of thanks and advice to current students from her new communications post in Tonga.
"I'd like to encourage students - especially Pasifika students in the audience pursuing research - to listen to your gut feelings," she said.
"If you know something that's right, that's relevant, that's key to your community and you're ready to put in the hard work to research that issue, do it and fight for it."
Latu now works for the Ministry of Information and Communication in Tonga, after a brief stint as editor of the Tonga Chronicle.
The award was presented in Latu's absence by Desna Jury, dean of AUT's Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies.
Top postgraduate journalism student was Kim Bowden who won three awards, including the new Radio NZ International prize for Asia-Pacific journalism. - Pacific Media Centre/Pacific Media Watch
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Alex Perrottet
