Ilkom UMS Student Wins Third Place in National Essay Competition

Another outstanding achievement was made by a student of the Communication Science program at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS). Diyah Ayu Julianti successfully won third place in a national-level competition through the essay category titled “Freedom of opinion and expression, speaking up for the nation.” The competition was organized by Commweekundip, Universitas Diponegoro.

Diyah revealed that the opinion presented in her essay stemmed from a social issue that had personally troubled her. “This unique essay started from personal unease. From there, new innovations emerged that might also relate to other individuals, and it turns out there has already been research on it,” Diyah said when interviewed on Monday (29/12/2025).

Diyah admitted that this was her first time participating in a writing competition. To ensure her writing had strong argumentative value, she did not rely solely on subjective opinion. The data were obtained from previous studies that were relevant to the topic discussed.

“One of them is the Constitution, which serves as a guideline and philosophical foundation of democratic life, so these two aspects can provide a strong foundation for the arguments presented,” she said.

The most valuable lesson Diyah gained from this competition was developing her public speaking skills. She explained that initially her essay ranked first in terms of research depth. However, aside from originality and research depth, presentation in conveying ideas became the most crucial factor in the assessment.

“Initially, I excelled over the others in terms of research depth, thank God. I was even in first place. But it turned out that public speaking, how we convey our ideas, is more important,” she said.

Amid her busy schedule as a final-year student, the challenge she faced while writing the essay was dividing her time between competition preparation and academic obligations. However, she managed to overcome this obstacle by practicing good time management.

Through this competition experience, Diyah’s perspective on viewing ongoing issues has changed. “From this experience, I can look at issues not just based on hearsay, but on the facts,” she added.

This victory has become a motivation for Diyah to continue developing her skills in the future. She plans to improve her shortcomings in writing techniques and to develop new ideas for upcoming competitions.

“Going forward, I want to move further and explore up to the international level,” Diyah said enthusiastically.

Writer: Roselia Puspita Asri

Editor: Fika Annisa Sholihah

Translator: Farizal Luqman Majid