African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award 2025 ($5,000 prize) Deadline: 15 July, 2025

Applications are open for the African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award 2025. The African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award is the continent’s premier investigative journalism award. Run by the Wits Centre for Journalism, the African Investigative Journalism Conference, 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 Award recognises the best exemplar of investigative reporting from and about Africa over the year ending end-June. The Award can be made to a journalist or team of journalists working in any medium. It can be for a single story or a series of stories published or broadcast in Africa in the previous year.

Benefits

• The winner will receive US$5,000 while flights, accommodation and fees to attend the AIJC conference are covered for all finalists.

Eligibility

• 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.
• Stories should be published between 1 July 2024 and 1 July 2025.
• No individual journalist or organization can be part of more than two entries. Each entry may consist of no more than five stories.

Selection Criteria

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

Application

Entries must include:

• An electronic copy of the entry material as published/broadcast. If the original is reduced in size it must be accompanied by a readable Word/PDF version.
• A 100-word biography and high-res photo of each entrant.
• A high-res copy of the publication/broadcaster’s logo.
• A short motivation for the entry (maximum 500 words), including any background the judges should be aware of, an indication of the impact of the story and details of any significant challenge to the accuracy or fairness of the entry such as published letters, corrections, retractions, formal complaints or court cases. This motivation is critical and judges should be informed of the finer detail that went into the investigation, for example, accessing hard-to-come-by documents or innovative problem-solving. The judges want to know the smart and hard work that went into the story, the risks taken, its originality, context and impact.
• Broadcast entries must include a transcript and a short video clip of the story for publicity.

The deadline for entries is 15 July 2025 at 17:00 (SAST). Submit all supporting documentation to aijc.awards@journalism.co.za

For more information, visit African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award.