Annual Festival
Beacons 2019
Beacons, the annual two-day media fest was held on the 17th and 18th of October. The event was inaugurated by noted filmmaker, Abhaya Simha, with Dr Praveen Kumar Shetty, Deputy Director (Research), Nitte (Deemed to be University) presiding.
In his presidential speech, Abhaya Simha spoke of how students are leaning more towards viewing and less towards reading and said "viewing has become the new reading" as it is easier to consume.
The fest saw students from 17 colleges from in and around Mangaluru, participating and St Aloysius College emerged overall champions. A total of 17 events were held and saw some tough competition among participants.
Beacons October 2018 - VI Edition
The sixth annual media fest was held on October 4th and 5th, 2018. Renowned journalist and filmmaker Paranjoy Guha Thakurta inaugurated the event held at the Institute’s campus in Deralakatte.
The fest, which aims to introduce media-related events and competitions to students from different backgrounds, is now an integral part of life at NICO. Students from around 20 different colleges in and around Karnataka gathered at the campus for two days and participated in 18 events and competitions. The competitions included Photography, Creative Writing, T.V News Bulletin, Digital Poster Making, R.J Hunt, and Crisis Management. Pre-event categories included short film making, documentary, video PSA and video advertisements.
Being a media college, the fest invites Speakers from the industry to address students about important issues in media and journalism, considering it important to start a conversation. Past speakers have included Prakash Belwadi and Vasanthi Hariprakash. This year, Mr Thakurta addressed students about how the rise of social media has drastically changed the traditional media landscape. He spoke about the dangerous rise of fake news and misinformation, attributing it partly to the dependency of media houses on revenue from government and corporate advertisements.
The programme concluded on October 5 – Alva’s College, Moodabidri were declared the overall champions and St Xavier’s College, Goa, runners-up. Dr Smitha Hegde, Professor, Nitte University Centre for Science Education & Research was the Chief Guest for the Valedictory function.
Beacons 2018
Nitte Institute of Communication (NICO) organized the fifth edition of Beacons, the two-day national level inter-collegiate media fest, on March 8th and 9th 2018 at the Institute's premises in Deralakatte. The fest, themed ‘Dissent is Necessary"; was inaugurated by Prakash Belawadi, a well-known theater, film, television and media personality.
The fest aimed to introduce media-related events and competitions to students from different backgrounds and saw a total of 16 competitions including short-film making, face painting, escape room, potpourri, theme-dance, creative writing, RJ hunt, product launch, photography, mock press, quiz, crisis management and movie spoof.
The new events added to the existing list were video PSA and video bulletin.
Beacons 2017
"I believe there has never been a better time to be in the media as convergence has given a better platform for journalists to explore technology and use it in the right way for ethical journalism," said Vasanthi Hariprakash, media personality at the inauguration of the fourth edition of Beacons.
Throwing light on the importance of the accessibility of media in rural places, she called budding journalists to be the new winds of change that keep the values of humanity and journalism flying high.
She also gave the example of Dakshina Kannada as a celebration of convergence with various languages and cultures seamlessly melding together. She urged students to make use of this opportunity to adapt to the new media paradigm.
Mr Vishal Hegde, Pro Chancellor, Nitte (Deemed to be University) in his presidential speech, called out to media students to not to get carried away by the convenience of new media, instead, use it for building a better future for people at large.
Beacons 2016
The third edition of Beacons was held on 8th and 9th March 2016 and was inaugurated by Director B.S. Lingadevaru, on Tuesday, March 8 at the Institute premises in Deralakatte. The fest began with the screening of the award-winning movie ‘Naanu Avanalla Avalu’, followed by a discussion and debate on the same.
In his inaugural speech, he discussed movie-making skills and the current scenario of the film industry. Emphasising on the influence of cinema and media on human behavior he said that cinema should not be looked at as something that is in "fashion", instead it should be one's passion.
A total of 115 students from 13 different colleges participated in the media festival.
Spot Photography, Movie Spoof, Creative Writing, Product Launch, Radio Jockeying, Just a Minute, Stand-up Comedy and Poster Making were a few of the events held.
Beacons 2015
The second edition of Beacons was held on 16th March 2015 at the Institute premises. Dr Nithin Acharya, alumnus AB Shetty Memorial Institute of Dental Sciences was the Chief Guest and Dr M S Moodithaya, Registrar, Nitte (Deemed to be University) was the Guest of Honour.
Beacons 2014
NICO's annual student festival, Beacons, a two-day media fest was launched in February 2014. The maiden edition was held on 16th March 2014 at the Institute premises. Mr Vasanth Kumar Perla, Executive Director, Akashvani, Mangalore was the Chief Guest and Dr Ramanand Shetty, Vice Chancellor, Nitte (Deemed to be University) was the Guest of Honour.
The Beacons trophy was won by St Aloysius Degree College, Mangalore.
