Future Awards Prize for Journalism winner unveiled

Shola Lawal

Journalist and filmmaker, Shola Lawal has emerged winner of the Future Awards Prize for Journalism.

The award is organised by The Future Project which is committed to building a network of young Africans working together to solve the continent’s biggest and most urgent issues.

“Whew! I have no words. Thank you The Future Awards Africa and to my friends and editors who’ve supported me. Thank you,” Lawal said on the microblogging platform, Twitter.

Lawal got the prize ahead of CNN’s Aisha Universal Music Group’s Joey Akan, freelance journalist Ayodeji Rotinwa and BBC’s Kiki Mordi.

Shola Lawal is a Nigeria-based freelance journalist and filmmaker covering social justice, development, women and environmental issues across West Africa.

She has reported from Ghana, Togo, Finland and from the Nigerian/Cameroonian border.

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Her reporting calls attention to stories that deeply affect people and the environment: Her stories have taken her to volatile oil fields in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, endangered forests in Ghana and the troubled streets of Lomé, Togo.

Apart from Mail and Guardian, Lawal’s work, (video and words) have appeared in Al Jazeera, TRT World and IRIN News.

Lawal is currently working on a documentary film that chronicles the lives of indigenous faith believers in Nigeria, and the discriminatory attitudes they face.

Lawal previously worked as a video producer with Zikoko – the Nigerian media company aspiring to be Africa’s Buzzfeed – where she helped start a video department.

In 2018, Lawal represented Nigeria at the Foreign Correspondents’ Programme in Helsinki, Finland.

On the 13th of June 2019, The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) announced her selection as its 2019 IWMF Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow from a field of more than 100 applicants spanning 43 countries.

This unique fellowship, now in its 15th year, provides journalists with training and experience reporting on human rights and social justice issues.