APPLY: WSCIJ now accepting entries for 19th edition of its award

The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) is now accepting entries for its annual investigative reporting award.

In a statement, the WSCIJ team said this year’s award aims to honour and celebrate the courageous efforts of investigative journalists and news media as guards of the civic space.

The team said the 19th edition of the award is open to professional reporters or teams of reporters, working full-time or freelance, with published stories targeted at the Nigerian audience.

“Call for applications for the 19th edition of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting (WSAIR) of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) opens today, Friday, 4 October 2024,” the statement reads.

“This year’s award is part of the Civic Space Guard Project, to honour and celebrate the courageous efforts of investigative journalists and news media as guards of the civic space.

“Professional reporters or teams of reporters, whether full-time or freelance, with published stories targeted at the Nigerian audience, may submit their stories by 4pm on Thursday, 24 October 2024.

“Since its inception in 2005, the award has recognised outstanding journalists who deliver in-depth stories to prevent or expose corruption in the public and private sectors, human rights violations, or regulatory failures in Nigeria across different media genres, including print, online, photo, editorial cartoon, television, and radio.

“WSCIJ will deploy its award coding system introduced in 2012 to compile and send submitted entries to an independent panel of media experts and industry professionals for evaluation.

“The 2024 WSAIR judges will score entries based on the quality of investigation, evidence, human rights elements, ethical reportage, courage, individual creativity, public interest, impact, and presentation. All interested journalists are encouraged to go through the entry criteria for their respective category.”

Story submissions will be accepted until 4pm on October 24.