PRESS RELEASE
The board of judges
for the 2013 Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, led by Prof Lai
Oso, Dean, Lagos State School of Communication has named 14 finalists for this
year’s award.
They are: Elijah
Olusegun of National Standard Magazine; Ayoola Kassim of Channels
Television; Adeyemi Adesomoju of The Punch Newspaper; Toyosi
Ogunseye of The Punch Newspaper; Ini Ekott of Premium Times;
Asukwo Bassey of BusinessDay Newspaper; Tobore Ovuorie of Premium
Times; Temiloluwa Bamgbose of Flair Nigeria; Ruona Agbroko of Premium
Times; Stanley Ogidi of The Punch; Aderonke Ogunleye of Premium
Times; Temitayo Famutimi of The Punch; Bassey Udo of Premium
Times and Ese Grage of Flair Nigeria.
The two honorary awards; the Lifetime award for journalistic excellence
and the Anti-corruption defender award will be presented to Ms. Amma Ogan,
first female editor at the Guardian and Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, Chair of the
National Human Rights Commission, respectively.
Amma Ogan is being honoured with the Lifetime award for journalistic
excellence for her invaluable contribution to media excellence in Nigeria while
the Anti-corruption defender award is being awarded Chidi Odinkalu for his
integrity, hard work, unconcealed crusade for the enthronement of human rights and
his dogged stance against corruption.
Winners, runners-up and commended works will be announced at a public
award presentation ceremony scheduled for Monday 9 December 2013 at the
NECA main hall, opposite Afrika shrine, Agidingbi, Ikeja Lagos at 5pm.
Professor Wole Soyinka, WSCIJ’s Grand Patron; Dr. Andrew Pocock, the
British High Commissioner to Nigeria; Rt Hon Rotimi Ameachi, Rivers State
Governor; Prof Ropo Sekoni, WSCIJ Board Chair are some of the guests expected
at the event which is supported with funding from the Rivers State Government
and the British High Commission.
Admittance to the event is open to members of the public.
ABOUT THE AWARD
The Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting was first held in
October, 2005 to encourage the development of an investigative tradition in the
Nigerian media through rigorous scrutiny of human rights violations, regulatory
failures and corruption in the public and corporate sectors of the nation’s
life and has so far rewarded 59 finalists.
ABOUT THE ENTRY CODING SYSTEM
In 2012, the Centre introduced an entry coding system, which attempts to
make the details of media house and reporter’s by-line anonymous to judges to
further strengthen the judging process and perhaps increase the credibility of
the award programme. Now, each entry bears a code in the place of media house
and entrant’s details along with the story title.
ABOUT THE CENTRE
The WOLE SOYINKA CENTRE FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM (WSCIJ) is a
non-governmental organisation with a vision to stimulate the emergence of a
socially just community defined by the ethics of inclusion, transparency and
accountability through support to journalists. Initially known as the Wole
Soyinka Investigative Reporting Award (WSIRA), the change in name became
necessary in 2008 to reflect the intentions of the coordinators to embrace a
more robust line of activities that have greater capacity for engendering the
right values of investigative journalism in the Nigerian media.
The Centre is named after Professor Wole Soyinka in recognition of his
life-long work in support of the freedom of expression, freedom to hold
opinion, and freedom to impart them without fear or favour and without
hindrance or interference.
Signed:
Motunrayo Alaka
Centre Coordinator
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