THE Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) has announced openings for the 14th editions of 2019 annual investigative award in celebration of outstanding journalists in Nigeria.
The award features five major categories including print, radio, television, photography, online and editorial cartoon.
“The award, which is an annual programme of WSCIJ, seeks to honour journalism works with focus on public and or corporate corruption, human rights abuses, or failure of regulatory agencies, published or aired between 4th October 2018 and 3rd October 2019,” says Motunrayo Alaka, the Centre coordinator.
“This year, applicants for the Television, Radio and Online categories of the award can put in their entries through an online application process. The other three categories requiring hard copy submission given the nature of entry processing, are the Print, Photography and Editorial cartoon.”
The centre coordinator said, ” entries will be collated using the award coding system and assessed by a panel of media experts and related professionals with a good understanding of investigative reporting.”
According to her, “The judges’ board would broadly score submitted stories based on the quality of investigation, evidence, human rights elements, ethical reportage, courage, individual creativity, public interest, impact and quality of presentation.”
The entries are also opened to a team of journalists who are either practising on a full time or part-time basis.
Interested and eligible applicants were, however, advised to submit works published or aired in the local media between 4th October 2018 and 3rd October 2019 while the deadline for submission is Thursday 24th October 2019 by 4 pm.
Categories that require submission of hard copies, the centre noted should be sent to its office located at Second Floor, 18A Abiodun Sobajo Street, Off Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.
The WSCIJ has since October 2005, promoted the culture of investigative reporting in the Nigerian media through the award, which is in its thirteenth editions and produced 91 finalists.
Olugbenga heads the Investigations Desk at The ICIR. Do you have a scoop? Shoot him an email at [email protected]. Twitter Handle: @OluAdanikin