A senior investigative reporter at HumAngle, ‘Kunle Adebajo, has been selected as one of the six finalists for the 2020 Isu Elihle Awards for child-centred investigative journalism.
The announcement was made on Monday during a webinar by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), a non-profit based in South Africa and organisers of the award.
The award, which was launched in 2016, is based on the conviction that “the media can play an important role in protecting and promoting children’s rights and, in many instances, in exposing their abuses and triumphs.”
According to the organisers, the aim of the initiative is to “encourage alternative thinking around reporting on children, and to contribute to an environment that enables journalists to expose and highlight issues affecting children in the country and the continent”.
The finalists will be given a grant of 10,000 Rands (N228,000) to research and develop their stories. The published stories will then be assessed and the top three finalists, to be announced in November, will receive cash prizes ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 Rands.
One or more reports that meet the criteria for the Mandy Rossouw Accountability Category will also win additional cash prizes.
Adebajo is the only finalist from Nigeria. Others are Luzuko Sonkapu from South Africa, Tatenda Chitangu from Zimbabwe, Mercy Mubaiwa from Zimbabwe, Kathryn Cleary from South Africa, and Matiisetso Mosala from Lesotho.
“Around our continent, it is children who are the most marginalised and yet their issues and stories that involve them have the greatest potential for change and to build societies that are just, fair and equitable,” said Director of MMA, William Bird.
“The Isu Elihle awards recognises the difficult context and seek to reward journalists who have the best story ideas so that not only can we ensure quality journalism, we can develop as an essential service, but also ensure that stories about the most vulnerable and precious members of our society can be told.”
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