Fisayo Soyombo on longlist for global award over undercover prison story

‘Fisayo Soyombo, a former editor of TheCable, has been shortlisted for the International Journalist of the Year award organised by the One World Media (OWM).

Soyombo made the list through his undercover investigation on Nigeria’s criminal justice system.

In a three-part series published on TheCable, Soyombo highlighted the rot in the system. He spent two weeks in detention — five days in a police cell and eight as an inmate in Ikoyi Prison, beginning from the moment of arrest by the police to the point of release from prison.

Soyombo — adopting the pseudonym Ojo Olajumoke — feigned an offence for which he was arrested and detained in police custody, arraigned in court and eventually remanded in prison.

One World Media announced the finalists among others in 15 various award categories in the 2020 edition.

Others shortlisted for the International Journalist of the Year award include Alex Crawford of Sky News, John Sudworth of BBC News, Namak Khoshnaw of BBC Arabic, and Bel Trew of Independent.

Also shortlisted are Drew Ambrose and Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera English; Rina Chandran of Thomson Reuters Foundation as well as Hind Hassan and Isobel Yeung, both of Vice News.

One World Media said the awards celebrate the “industry’s best media coverage of developing countries.”

It said entries were received from over 60 countries, and that the final three nominees in each category will be announced later this month, while winners will emerge in June.

In a tweet, Soyombo, the pioneer editor of TheCable, expressed delight over being the only African on the list.

Happy to announce that I am the only African of 10 journalists worldwide to make the longlist for One World Media Award’s International Journalist of the Year 2020.

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Wasn’t planning to apply but @RGAMeyer pushed me into it. Thank you, Ruona!#OWMAwards2020 pic.twitter.com/7cpskaqFo2

— ‘Fisayo Soyombo (@fisayosoyombo) April 7, 2020

The multiple award-winning journalist is known for his reports exposing corruption and other ills in the society.

Only recently, he emerged as the co-winner of the People Journalism Prize for Africa 2019 (PJPA) for his undercover report exposing corrupt practices in Nigeria’s judicial system.

Some other prestigious media awards he had won include the the Newcomer of the Year at the 2016 Free Press awards, Investigative Journalist of the Year at the Wole Soyinka Awards for Investigative Reporting and Zimeo Excellence in Journalism Awards.