15TH Annual WSCIJ Awards Holds Monday To Wednesday

The In-depth media conference and awards of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, WSCIJ which marks the 15th annual Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting will take place from Monday 7 December to Wednesday 9 December with the theme – Masked not silenced. The conference will hold on Monday and Tuesday as webinars on Zoom from 1 pm to 2:30 pm, while the 2020 public presentation of prizes for the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting will be a physical event with strict COVID-19 rules, on Wednesday 9 December from 4 pm to 6 pm at the NECA House, Hakeem Balogun Street, off Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

The award event is held annually on 9th December to reward commendable practices in investigative journalism as well as mark the World Anti-corruption Day. This year, 8 distinguished journalists shortlisted from 188 entries will receive prices. Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana and veteran journalist, Lade Bonuola, have also been nominated to receive honorary awards.

The In-depth media conference was introduced this year as a build-up to the award programme in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the award launched in October 2005 as the flagship annual programme of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ). Attendance for the conference and award is free and open to members of the public. You may register for the conference here – https://bit.ly/IndepthMediaConference.

The theme has been carefully chosen to address the effects of COVID-19, the repression of freedom of expression and attacks on the news media in Nigeria and Africa. Discussants lined up include Simon Kolawole, founder and chief executive officer, The Cable newspaper; Ruona Meyer, freelancer and award-winning journalist; Ibanga Isine, managing editor, The Next Edition newspaper; Amina Yuguda, award-winning broadcast journalist; Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher Premium Times; Babajide Kolade-Otitoju, Controller, Current & Public Affairs, TVC Communications; Tsema Ede-Okoye, lawyer and consultant at Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA); Naziru Mikailu, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Trust newspapers; and Motunrayo Alaka, executive director/CEO, WSCIJ. Tolu Adeleru-Balogun, head of presentations, News Central TV and Mayowa Tijani, business and development editor at The Cable, will moderate sessions.