Centre calls for entries for 19th Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting

The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) has called for applications for the 19th edition of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting (WSAIR).

A statement by the WSCIJ team, noted that the entries were open on October 4th and will run till October 24th, where professional reporters or team of reporters, whether full-time or freelance, with published stories targeted at the Nigerian audience, are to submit their stories to stand a chance of winning.

“This year’s award is part of the Civic Space Guard Project, to honour and celebrate the courageous efforts of investigative journalists and news media as guards of the civic space,” the release said.

“Since its inception in 2005, the award has recognised outstanding journalists who deliver in-depth stories to prevent or expose corruption in public and private sectors, human rights violations, or regulatory failures in Nigeria across different media genres including; print, online, photo, editorial cartoon, television, and radio.

READ ALSO: DSS detains investigative journalist, Soyinka, at Lagos Airport, raising concerns over press freedom

“WSCIJ will deploy its award coding system introduced in 2012 to compile and send submitted entries to an independent panel of media experts and industry professionals for evaluation.”

The Centre stated that the 2024 WSAIR judges will score entries based on the quality of investigation, evidence, human rights elements, ethical reportage, courage, individual creativity, public interest, impact, and presentation.

“All interested journalists are encouraged to go through the entry criteria for their respective category. In 2023, WSCIJ received 244 entries, but only 99 entries (print – 29, online – 45, TV – 7, radio – 2, photo – 8, and editorial cartoon – 8) met the criteria for further screening and 10 finalists emerged.

“So far, the award has produced 126 finalists, 58 Soyinka Laureates, and 13 investigative journalists of the year. It has also made 29 honorary awards for its Lifetime Award for Journalistic Excellence and the Anti-Corruption/Human Rights Defender Awards.”

It added that the 19th award ceremony will hold in Lagos on Monday, 9 December, 2024.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now