Investigative journalists, Kiki Mordi and Fisayo Soyombo, have been selected as the inaugural winners of the People Journalism Prize for Africa 2019 (PJPA).
Soyombo was chosen for his undercover investigative pieces that exposed the rot and corruption in the police force and the Nigerian prison system. Fisayo was in jail/prison for about two weeks to bring these stories to the public.
For her eye-opening story on the unfortunate entrenchment of sexual harassment on university campuses in West Africa, Kiki Mordi was also selected for the award.
Both awardees will receive the prize of a $3000 endowment from Gatefield, a Sub-Saharan Africa public strategy firm.
“Both reporters demonstrated the highest level of empathy by subjecting themselves to the excruciating torture of the injustice that they sought to expose in telling these stories,” Adewunmi Emoruwa, the Lead Strategist at Gatefield wrote in a statement. “We could not be more proud of our decision to honour these brave journalists with our inaugural prize.”