Port Macquarie's Blake Johnson was one of 32 December graduates to receive the medal to recognise his outstanding academic achievement.

Mr Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Sports Media within the Charles Sturt School of Information and Communication Studies at Bathurst.

A student has to achieve High Distinctions (HDs) in nearly all their subjects to be awarded the University Medal.

"It's cool to have the work that I put in acknowledged," Mr Johnson said.

"I don't usually share much about what I've done but after three years of knuckling down, it's nice to take a second to sum up that achievement."

Mr Johnson attended Mackillop College and switched to media studies online with Charles Sturt in Bathurst while living in Sydney.

"I've been a long-time fan and participant of a fair few sports, so that helped grow my interest in it," he said.

"Interestingly, although I've never played basketball, it quickly became my favourite thing to watch, and I really enjoy the hype surrounding its media content."

Mr Johnson said the COVID pandemic created a challenging environment to study within.

"Though working online was already familiar to me, it did make having a work-life balance difficult when confined to our little shoe-box in Sydney," he said.

"I think having my girlfriend there who was going through the same situation with her studies helped a lot, and we kind of kept each other on task.

"It was also challenging working online and not having the same connection with students I'd become familiar with throughout high school, and also in my first year of uni in Sydney. It just encouraged me to be more independent."

Mr Johnson said study at Charles Sturt prepared him for the industry he now works in.

"While practice with the tools is necessary to work in the media industry, learning about how to work mindfully was really valuable," he said.

"The work placements also gave me an idea of what to expect.

"I'm now working with the business where I conducted my university work placement."

Mr Johnson is currently working remotely in Port Macquarie as a video editor for an online sports site, which deals in editorial and opinion-based stories.

"I want to continue working in a visually-orientated media field, as I've always been rather creative, and I hope to share content that reflects that."

Mr Johnson is looking forward to his formal graduation ceremony in 2022.

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