The Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling ($5,000 cash prize, Professional development program in London, UK)

The award honors up-and-coming journalists in Africa who strive to strengthen people’s voices and illuminate the transformational change taking place on the continent. The award entries must represent groundbreaking journalistic work published between December 1, 2023, and December 1, 2024. Winners will be selected on the quality of their articles and the impact their work has had on communities. We welcome excellent submissions in all media, especially those that demonstrate analytical skills in addition to outstanding writing ability.

About the Award

The Award was established in honor of Michael Elliott, an outstanding editor, philanthropist, and former ICFJ director, whose life was a testament to the power of storytelling to bear witness to and improve the human condition. Elliott served as a distinguished editor at The Economist, Newsweek, and Time before becoming CEO of ONE. In 2016, he had spoken of his dream to establish an award that would bring together his belief in great journalism with his commitment to progress in Africa. This prestigious annual award honors emerging journalists in Africa who strive to strengthen people’s voices and illuminate the transformational change taking place on the continent. 

Past award winners include Mercy Juma, Dorcas Wangira, and Linda Ngari from Kenya; Kiki Mordi, Abubakar Ibrahim, Zainab Bala, Adekunle Adebajo, and Kemi Busari from Nigeria; Farai Shawn Matiashe from Zimbabwe; Khalid Bencherif from Morocco; Nalova Akua from Cameroon; and Bernadette Vivuya from the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Busari’s winning story, “Baba Aisha, Nigeria’s fake ‘doctor’ cashing out on deadly concoction that cures nothing“, investigates a popular low-end herbal product sold in the streets of Abuja, Nigeria, and falsely advertised as a fix for common diseases. Ngari produced a documentary for BBC News Africa, “Breaking the silence: Abortion rights in Kenya“, that examines a hidden crisis of unsafe abortions in Kenya. Adebajo’s winning story, “Keeping up with the Chibok Girls“, examines the fate of some of the students kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 who later escaped or were released from captivity. Matiashe’s story for CNN spotlights an all-women fishing cooperative on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe, the first such group in the community. Akua’s winning entry for BBC Future Planet, “The Invasive Weed that Traveled the World“, examines how a fishing community in Cameroon is racing to save Lake Ossa, one of the country’s largest, from an invasive plant that thrives in warm freshwater. Bencherif’s story, “How Climate Change Turned This Moroccan Village into a Ghost Town“, describes how parts of Morocco, including his hometown, are now uninhabitable due to climate change. Vivuya’s winning entry focused on children in Congo who toiled in niobium, cassiterite, and coltan mines that produce raw materials used in making capacitors for electronic devices. Mordi’s story, “Sex for Grades,” exposes sexual harassment in African universities. Bala’s documentary, “The Almajiri“, is focused on children in northern Nigeria who left their homes for Islamic education in the nation’s capital where they were neglected and abused by their religious teachers. Ibrahim’s piece, “All That Was Familiar,” chronicles the struggle of two women — one from Cameroon and one from Nigeria — to find their loved ones who have been internally displaced by Boko Haram’s insurgency. Juma’s story, “Teen Mums of Kwale,” tells of primary school girls whose families make the controversial choice to let them use contraceptives even though the practice is taboo in the Muslim communities of Kenya’s Kwale County. Finally, Wangira’s award-winning story, “The App and The Cut,” covered the harm caused by female genital mutilation and the hope offered by five high school girls who invented an app to connect vulnerable girls with resources and rescue centers.