Are you a Nigerian journalist with a story that exposes clandestine activities and corruption in the public or private sector? Apply for the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting 2022.

The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) rewards, promotes and encourages best practices in journalism works from the print, radio, television, photo, online, 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.

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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.

Wole Soyinka Award

• The award win includes a cash prize, an award plaque, a certificate of commendation, a computer backup hard drive and 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, to honour the great past of the media profession, and to recognise individuals or organisations for their noteworthy stance against corruption respectively.

Eligibility for Wole Soyinka Award

• Open to any Nigerian professional reporter or team of reporters (fulltime or freelancers);
• Be 18-years and above;
• Have published stories either online, in print, or through electronic media, primarily targeted at and received by a Nigerian audience.

Selection Criteria

• 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, an understanding of human rights implications enhanced by the quality of presentation.
• Such works should have been first published or broadcast in a Nigerian media between October 4, 2021 and October 3, 2022.

Application of Wole Soyinka Award

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 organisation’s weblink of entry where available. Otherwise, upload the entry on SoundCloud for radio or YouTube for television and provide the weblink.
• 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 organisations 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 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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Lastly, It is important to visit the official website link found below to access the application form.

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