INTRODUCTION
The Eyitayo Adeosun Memorial Literary Lecture (now, papyrus initiative) and Essay Writing Competition was conceptualized in December 2016 at a general MediVoice meeting. The motion to start a yearly memorial event in remembrance of our former Editor-in-chief was moved by Apampa Tobiloba, a member of MediVoice and a very dear friend to Eyitayo at the time of his passing.
The vision to hold a memorial event emanated from the fact that Eyitayo was a very dedicated member of MediVoice News Agency, a visionary leader at the time he was the Editor-in-Chief and a very dear friend, senior colleague and mentor to all members of the Agency that knew him.
Eyitayo’s departure was a great loss to MediVoice News Agency because his kind leadership and oversight was very important to us as individuals and as a group, he was the gentlest and most kind-hearted person every one of us had ever met. We thought it was of great importance to start something to honor and celebrate his memory, showing the world around us how wonderful a person he was to us and how he’ll live on forever in our hearts, in our own little way.
The first edition held on December 1, 2018. This second edition held on the the 23rd of November, 2019.
THEME
The theme for this second edition was “BENEATH THE SURFACE: CONTEMPORARY HEROISM IN NIGERIA” – a theme whose choice was determined by our Guest Speaker, MISS AYOBAMI ADEBAYO, author of STAY WITH ME and 2019 9MOBILE PRIZE FOR LITERATURE WINNER
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This theme explored the concept of heroism among literary giants in Nigeria.
Overall, we are most pleased to have been able to gather people in an organized atmosphere and have activities that celebrated arts, literature and the reading culture, in Eyitayo’s name and in his honor.
THE WRITING COMPETITION
We thought it best to stick to the thematic interpretation of the name of the papyrus name (hinting at the formative years of writing) by making our target audience for the essay writing competition secondary school students (also formative years of development of craft among students).
We decided on the topic – “HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY HEROINES IN NIGERIA: PERSPECTIVES AND LESSONS”. In this essay, we wanted each student to write about a Nigerian female, whether living or dead, who has contributed immensely to the course of Nigerian history and to discuss the relevance of the work to Nigeria and how the life and work of that person can be
applied in modern times.
Of the nine invited schools, five schools submitted a total of eighteen entries and Apanpa Motunrayo (not in any way related to Apampa Tobiloba) of Ambassadors Secondary School won the essay competition and took home the sum of twenty-five thousand naira as well as won her school, books worth forty-thousand naira purchased from the publishing house, Ouida Books
THE MEMORIAL LECTURE
The event was held at the Lekan Badru Hall, The event commenced at about 11.15am and was attended by literary loving members of the university community as well as participating secondary schools.
Prior to the keynote address, the event also featured book discussions, literary games as well as book sales by OUIDA BOOKS. The event was also graced by members of THE BOOKHUB IFE, a book reading Club on campus
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