TheCable journalist longlisted for international journalism award 

Taiwo Adebulu, a senior reporter with TheCable, has been longlisted for the 2021 edition of the One World Media (OWM) journalism award.

The award recognises the best stories from across the world that “break stereotypes, change the narrative and connect people across cultures”, especially in the global south.

Adebulu’s story on women entrepreneurs in Lagos was among the featured entries across 15 categories which were announced on Wednesday.

Listed under the ‘Women entrepreneurs reporting award’ category, the story features Lagos fish traders who are unable to tap into the booming digital market because of lack of education.

The organisers said Adebulu’s story — which was published as part of the Budgit/Civic Hive Media Fellowship 2020 — is among those that showcased “successful female entrepreneurs, the challenges women face in trying to grow their businesses, and/or the critical role that women entrepreneurs play in economic development by boosting growth and creating jobs”.

Also longlisted for the OWM awards is ‘Fisayo Soyombo, editor of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), who was featured in the ‘International journalist of the year’ category — for the second consecutive year.

A former editor of TheCable, Fisayo’s story focused on the victims of the shootings in Lekki, Lagos state, in October 2020.

Other Nigerians on the longlist include Ope Adetayo — currently a participant in the Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation (CNJF) Campus Civic Media Campaign (CCMC) project — for his story on Nigeria’s illegal abortion clinics; Kelechukwu Iruoma and Ruth Olurounbi, who wrote on oil spills in Ogoni land; Grace Ekpu, for her story on an 11-year old dancer challenging ballet stereotypes; Nosmot Gbadamosi, who reported on the all-women law firm helping prisoners to get justice in Nigeria among others.

TAIWO, THE AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST

Adebulu’s latest honour adds to the list of his numerous achievements since he began practising as a professional journalist in 2014.

In 2020, he won the PwC Media Excellence Awards and the overall prize at the African Fact-Checking Awards. He won both awards with his investigative fact-check that examined the claim of Mohammed Mahmood, the minister of environment, who had said that seven federal universities were running strictly on renewable energy.

In 2017, the investigative and development journalist won the continental Zimeo Excellence in Media Awards and was shortlisted as a finalist for The Future Awards Africa Prize for Journalism 2018. The same year, he emerged as a finalist at the Nigeria Media Merit Awards (NMMA).

He has participated in the British Council/IATC 2017 Young Critics’ programme and Thomson Reuters Foundation’s rural development reporting programme.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in language arts from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and a master’s degree in communication arts education from the University of Ibadan (UI).