Fisayo Soyombo, Kiki Mordi win 2019 People Journalism Prize for Africa

Investigative journalists Kiki Mordi and Fisayo Soyombo are winners of the People Journalism Prize for Africa 2019 (PJPA).

The inaugural prize is backed by a $3000 (N1,000,000) endowment from Gatefield, a Sub-Saharan Africa public strategy firm.

Mordi was selected for her investigation into the horrid web of sexual harassment on university campuses in West Africa.

This resulted in widespread disciplinary actions and policy reforms across the institutions that were exposed by her thorough reporting of the events.

Soyombo was selected for his investigative series that exposed the entrenched nature of corruption within Nigeria’s criminal justice system.

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Soyombo spent about two weeks in detention as a “criminal” to bring these stories to the Nigerian public. His report led to the announcement of an official investigation by the Nigerian authorities.

Lead Strategist at Gatefield, Adewunmi Emoruwa, in a statement said: “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.

“We could not be more proud of our decision to honour these brave journalists with our inaugural prize.”

PJPA is a newly instituted public service journalism initiative with a mission to recognise and reward journalists and citizen reporters within Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, whose work have resulted in meaningful positive impact on the society.

The winners will publicly receive their prize in Abuja during a World Day of Social Justice event themed: Freedom’s Worth Defending (FWD:), hosted by Gatefield on February 20, 2020.