UMN Journalism Students Win News Craft Competition Held by COMMFEST UMN X IDN Times

The Urban Diary team received the 1st place award in the COMMFEST 2025 Mini Media Production Competition at the UMN Lecture Theater on Saturday (10/11/25) (Doc. Felicia)

Tangerang – A group of 2023 Journalism students from Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN) won first place in the Mini Media Production Competition on Saturday (11/10/25). COMMFEST organized the competition in collaboration with IDN Times. This program is a series of events for students to channel their potential, talents, and interests through journalism competitions.

In this competition, students were asked to create four works in two stages. They were asked to create hard news about the Indonesia Summit 2025 event series in the first stage. Meanwhile, in the second stage, they were asked to create a mini documentary, a photojournalism, and a feature. One team named Urban Diary, consisting of Gavendra Anantawikrama Wijaya, Putra Agung, Priscilla Yudith Victoria, Valerie Onassis Halim, and Eunike Michelle Gultom, successfully developed their ideas through these works. They decided to create one topic from the Indonesia Summit 2025 event, which took place on August 27-28, 2025, namely Human Capital Development: Unlocking Indonesia’s Economic Potential.

One of the speakers in the session was the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, Stella Christie, who discussed education and government scholarships for universities, such as Sekolah Garuda. This discussion caught the attention of Urban Diary and sparked their idea for coverage.

“We wondered about the fate of children with disabilities. How can our friends with special needs have the same education, treatment, and opportunities in their lives?” they said on Monday (10/13/25).

Urban Diary chose to feature the Pangudi Luhur Special School (SLB) B in West Jakarta as the subject of their coverage.

“We found the Pangudi Luhur Special School (SLB) B in West Jakarta through their website, and after conducting further research on their vision, mission, programs, and achievements, we found that this school met the criteria we were looking for in an institution,” they explained.

They chose the angle “How can SLB B Pangudi Luhur Jakarta Barat serve as a platform for deaf friends to receive education and prepare for the future?” with two main sources supporting the work: SLB B Pangudi Luhur Jakarta Barat teacher Yosephine Marhastuti and SLB B Pangudi Luhur Jakarta Barat student Hadi Abdullah.

Urban Diary photo session with Hadi Abdullah in the SLB B Pangudi Luhur Jakarta Barat classroom on Wednesday (1/10/25) (Urban Diary/Putra Agung)

Urban Diary packaged the mini documentary and feature by first describing the atmosphere, explaining the problems faced by deaf children, the solutions from SLB B Pangudi Luhur Jakarta Barat, and the hopes of both students and teachers for the future of special needs education. Meanwhile, Urban Diary packaged the photostory by including photos that were considered powerful and highly valuable in explaining the problems in deaf children’s education.

This competition brought Urban Diary a new experience, especially in pioneering their future in journalism. In addition to winning, they got the opportunity to intern at IDN Times as part of the appreciation for their best work. Urban Diary also hopes that their work can be useful for others.

“We are very grateful to have been able to participate and complete, and even be given the opportunity to win the competition organized by COMMFEST and IDN Times,” they said.

By Priscilla Yudith Victoria | Journalism Student at UMN

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara.