Hold the powerful to account. Enter Africa’s top investigations award
PICTURE: Blanshe Musinguzi, 2024 African Investigative Journalist of the Year
The African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award is now open, building upon a legacy which was boosted by last year’s winners Blanshe Musinguzi from Uganda and Manasseh Azure Awuni, Adwoa Adobea-Owusu and Evans Aziamor-Mensah from Ghana.
Musinguzi’s How Congo Trees are smuggled through East Africa and Awuni, Adobea-Owusu and Aziamor-Mensah’s The GH₵ 3 Billion Lie are the standard to which the continent’s premier investigative journalism award aspires.
Run by the Wits Centre for Journalism and supported by Absa Africa, the award recognises outstanding investigative reporting from across Africa that reveal untold stories, hold the powerful to account, question those in public life and serve the public interest.
The deadline for entries is 15 July 2025 at 5pm (SAST).
Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges who have discretion to set and use criteria they consider to be appropriate and reasonable. They will take into account:
- The originality of the story and the revelations it contains
- The investigative work that went into it, particularly inventiveness and persistence or courage
- The impact of the story, particularly in relation to public service
The winner stands to win $5 000 while flights, accommodation and fees to attend the African Investigative Journalism Conference, now in its 21st year, are covered for all finalists.
The award is open to all African journalists or teams of journalists working in any media for stories from and about Africa published or broadcast in African media.
- Journalists are encouraged to apply here
