Serdar Karan, who won the Outstanding Achievement Award: "My disability did not prevent me from receiving an award!"

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.32739/uha.id.60167

Serdar Karan, a student of the Faculty of Communication at Üsküdar University, was deemed worthy of an award at the 34th Young Communicators Competition organized in cooperation with the Turkish Journalists Association and the Aydın Doğan Foundation.

Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism, Asst. Prof. Karan, who won the "Outstanding Achievement Award" in the internet broadcasting category with his podcast project titled "Unnecessary Sensitivity on the Visually Impaired", which he prepared under the supervision of Sadettin Demirel, proved once again that visual impairment is not an obstacle to success with the award, he received from Aydın Doğan Foundation Chairman of the Executive Board Candan Fetvacı.

Asst. Prof. Sadettin Demirel: "Serdar deserved this award to the fullest."

"When my project was published, it had a great impact on the society"

Serdar Karan, a student of the Department of New Media and Communication, who was deemed worthy of the Outstanding Achievement Award, talked about the starting point and process of the podcast project.

Stating that he wanted to draw attention to the prejudices against the visually impaired in his project, Karan said:

"This project started as a graduation paper. In the beginning, I was producing video content, but my advisor Prof. Demirel said that the podcast format would be more effective. So, I chose the podcast and wanted to cover a community that is struggling with the barriers created by society. I identified my guests and realized that the more I created my project idea, the more interest it got. First of all, I received positive feedback in the classroom environment, and then when my project was published, it had a great impact in the community."

“This award shows that our achievements are not overshadowed."

Stating that winning an award means a lot to him, Karan expressed that "I am very happy to see that our achievements are not overshadowed and are reciprocated in society. The interest shown by the academics, my friends and the society who evaluated the project shows that this award is a crowning one. It motivated me even more to see that such projects can be rewarded. I won one of the most prestigious awards in the media. Receiving an award in this competition, which has been held for 34 years, is a source of pride for both my university and the community I am in. This award shows that our achievements are not overshadowed. It was very valuable for me to address the prejudices faced by the visually impaired and to bring this issue to the agenda."

"My disability did not prevent me from receiving an award"

Emphasizing that the award is evaluated entirely by the quality of the work done, Karan said that "It is very important that this award is not reduced to an obstacle and is evaluated entirely on the basis of the project. The jury, the school administration and the competition organization showed that the award was not linked to an obstacle but was given entirely in line with the success of the project. My disability didn't prevent me from receiving an award. The important thing is the quality of the work done and the belief in one's own potential. One of the pieces of feedback I hear the most is self-confidence. One must believe that one can achieve something. If I thought I wouldn't be able to make a podcast, maybe I wouldn't have started at all, but I believed, got support when needed, and I got this award. Instead of seeing obstacles as a problem, we should focus on how we can deal with them. If a person adopts this point of view, he can overcome all the obstacles in front of him."

Asst. Prof. Sadettin Demirel: "Serdar deserved this award to the fullest"

Karan's advisor is Üsküdar University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Journalism, Asst. Prof. Sadettin Demirel stated that he was proud of his student's success.

Demirel stated that "Serdar used to work on video editing. The reason I recommended the podcast format was because this topic was more suitable for podcasting. The project was remarkable not only from a technical point of view but also from a content point of view. And the jurors made that clear. The 'Serdar Karan presents...' used in the opening of the podcast Even the phrase shows a professional approach. He also improved his work by considering the feedback he received throughout the project. Serdar fully deserved this award. One of the things that made me the happiest was that such an important issue was appreciated by awards that have reached a certain level in the communication community."

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)