Application Deadline: 24 October 2022
About the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting
Are you a creative Journalist in Nigeria?
Can you write a story that exposes corruption and secret activities in the public and private sectors?
Apply for the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting for Nigerian Journalists.
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The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) rewards, promotes, and encourages best practices in journalism works from the print, radio, television, photo, online, and editorial cartoon broad categories as well as from other special categories which focus on themes ranging from regulatory failures, corruption in the public and corporate spheres, and human rights abuses in the country.
The Award was instituted and first held in October 2005 to aid the development of an investigative reporting culture in the Nigerian media. In naming the award after Wole Soyinka, the initiators hoped to bring further attention to Soyinka’s untiring and relentless support for the cause of freedom of expression.
Benefits of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting
- The award win includes
- A cash prize
- An award plaque
- A certificate of commendation
- A computer backup hard drive
- An international study tour.
Apart from the investigative reporting category, the award also has two honorary awards— the Lifetime Award for Journalistic Excellence and the Anti-corruption Defender Award.
This is to honor the great past of the media profession and to recognize individuals and organizations for their noteworthy stance against corruption respectively.
Eligibility Requirements for the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting.
The award is open to any Nigerian professional reporter or team of reporters (full-time or freelancers), 18 years and above, who have published stories either online, in print, or through electronic media, primarily targeted at and received by a Nigerian audience.
NOMINATION STANDARDS
The main criterion for eligibility is that the work (single work or single-subject serial) must involve reporting on public, and or corporate corruption, human rights violation, or on the failure of regulatory agencies. The story should reflect a high quality of investigation in terms of newsworthiness, capacity to expose or prevent clandestine activities, corruption in the public domain, and an understanding of human rights implications enhanced by the quality of presentation. Such works should have been first published or broadcast in Nigerian media between 4th October 2021 and 3rd October 2022.
Application Process
An applicant may only submit a maximum of two entries in the following categories.
Print – Newspaper and magazine
Scan and upload a clean and clear original print copy of the story entry in PDF format through the online application portal.
Provide the e-paper of relevant pages of published work(s) where available.
URL (web link) for the published work is not acceptable for this category.
Every entry under this category (single or series) must not exceed 5000 words.
Broadcast radio and television
Provide media organization’s weblink of entry where available. Otherwise, upload the entry on SoundCloud for radio or YouTube for television and provide the web link.
Ensure the submitted entries have a “cue in” and “cue out” which are linked to the person making the main presentation on the media to prove that what is submitted was done in the media house it claimed to be.
Include proof of the date and time of publication as documented in the day’s bulletin of the media house for the audio and video uploaded for all radio and television submissions respectively.
Photo
In addition to the broad criteria, photo entries will be scored on creativity, impact, and technical quality.
Upload the original photo in the section required on the portal.
For photos published in print, include a clean and clear scanned PDF copy of the full page of the published work showing the date of publication.
Entrants are also encouraged to provide the electronic paper copy (e-copy) page(s) for the published work(s) where available.
For photos from media news organizations that publish online, the URL (web link) for the published work must be provided.
Online
Provide URL (web link) for the published work or reports aired online (For web-based Television and Radio).
Editorial Cartooning
In addition to the broad criteria, editorial cartooning will also be scored on impact, creativity, and originality.
For cartoons published in print, provide a clean and clear scanned PDF copy of the full page where the published work appeared with a date.
Upload electronic copy (e-copy) page(s) for the published work(s) where available.
For cartoons published online, the URL (web link) for the published work must be provided.
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For more information, visit WSAIR Official Page
