VUT alumnus Lebina Ditha wins PRISM Award for best up-and-coming PR professional
Lebina Ditha, an alumnus of VUT, was recently named the best up-and-coming PR professional at this year’s PRISM Awards. Born and bred in Sharpeville, then raised in Sebokeng where he spent most of his childhood, has always been interested in dynamic nature of communications and found his niche when he enrolled for a National Diploma in Public Relations Management at the Vaal University of Technology.
He is passionate, analytic and likes seeing things through, especially in the public relations field, which was apparent throughout his studies. Ditha enjoys being creative and solving problems using communication, among other means.
As stated on its website, the PRISM Awards, celebrating its 24th year, are presented to public relations and communication professionals who have successfully incorporated strategy, creativity and professionalism in their strategies and campaigns that showcase a successful public relations campaign over the 2020 period.
For this award, Ditha explained the requirements such as: "One needs to write a motivation as to why you are a suitable candidate. Then you need to be nominated, either by a manager, client or a media representative with whom you have a relationship, or all three, as mentioned. In addition to this, an account of supporting documents to substantiate the work being entered for the award. All these documents are then submitted as an entry for judges to assess and select a winner for the category among practitioners across the country."
The inspiration behind the nomination was his hard work. He elaborated that over the past year, the media landscape shifted drastically due to the pandemic, but despite that, he was able to increase his clients' share of voice in the media. “Something that I learned and harnessed, thanks to a very supportive team,” he said.
“I am honestly humbled. All I have known is working hard and sometimes one loses sight of the results and fails to realise the impact that your work has and what this all means. So this award allowed me to pause and reflect on my work over the past year and finally celebrate the win,” he said with excitement.
He believes that persistence is a key growth area, including being alert and open to change. He will continue to work hard and remain determined in realising set objectives. This will lead to him acquiring new skills and always have a foresight or vision of where he wants to go, which plays a significant role in moving forward in any field.
Furthermore, he mentioned that trials and mistakes are a factor, as we do not often get everything right and tend to steer away from failure. “Knowing what causes failure from a personal point of view is also crucial in ensuring that you learn from it and never repeat it. This gives an insight into the situation and positioned me to always strive for a better version of myself,” he concluded.
In conclusion, he stated that change is constant when applied across the board, thus learning new skills is of utmost importance. “For me, it is about identifying what resonates and upskilling myself so that l become better at what I do,” he elaborated.