Founding member and pioneer Associate Editor of The Guardian newspaper, Lade Bonuola; Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana; and eight journalists will be honoured at the award presentation event of the 15th Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting holding on December 9, 2020 at NECA House, Lagos.
The Chairperson of the 2020 Judges’ Committee for the 2020 award, Abigail Ndisika-Ogwezzy, presented the shortlist of journalists after the score’s collation meeting on November 24, 2020.
According to list, the finalists include Habib Oladapo of Sahara Reporters, Ibrahim Adeyemi of BusinessDay, ‘Bukola Samuel-Wemimo of TVC News, Samson Folarin of The PUNCH, Taiwo Hassan Adebayo of Premium Times, Ikechukwu Ibe of Daily Trust, Damilola Banjo of Sahara Reporters and Victor Asowata of The PUNCH.
Their stories were selected from 188 entries received by a seven-person judges board.
It was gathered that Bonuola will be presented the lifetime award for journalistic excellence for his contribution to independent journalism in Nigeria through his years of service at the Guardian newspaper in the publication’s haydays and his commitment to promoting positive values that link media reporting to good governance and social justice.
Falana was chosen for the human rights defender award for his consistent defence for the freedom of people who become targets because they voiced their opinion and those oppressed because they are not able to speak for themselves.
The award presentation event will conclude the three-day In-depth Media Conference and Awards programme that the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism announced earlier to mark its 15th anniversary themed: “Masked not silenced.”
The line-up of activities will also commence with an online conference on December 7 and 8 from 1pm to 2:30pm daily.
The conference provides a platform for media professionals and other stakeholders to reflect on the state of the media profession.
Interested participants may register to attend the conference through the platform link.
The Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting was launched in October 2005 as WSCIJ’s flagship programme.
The award presentation event, which is free to attend, is held annually on December 9, the International Anticorruption Day and eve of the Human Rights Day, to acknowledge best practices in investigative journalism and call attention to its significance for attaining good governance, accountability, and social justice.
So far, it has produced 98 finalists, nine investigative journalists of the year and 22 honorary awards recipients.
