Listen up all ye scribes: the Observer has good and bad news for you. First the good: you can do an award-winning story. The bad: a lot of scribes aren’t going to do any such story until they leave the profession. A lot of the stuff many produce only fills pages or the broadcast news bulletin slot. Nothing more.
Last month, Dorcas Wangira who works for Citizen TV won an international award for her story on the harm caused by female genital mutilation and the hope offered by five tech-savvy teenage girls.
Wangira was named the 2019 winner of the Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling. She topped a list of 218 applicants for the prize.
Her winning report, “The App and The Cut,” ran on KTN News in June 2018. In the 25-minute feature, Wangira travelled to communities where girls are forced to undergo the illegal procedure. She tells their stories of helplessness alongside the tale of five high school girls who invented an app to help girls facing the surgery seek help and find rescue centres.
The Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling was established in 2016 in honour of Michael Elliott, “an outstanding editor and philanthropist whose life was a testament to the power of storytelling to bear witness to and improve the human condition,” the organisers said.
“The winning story stood out for its courageous reporting, and its fresh approach on a sensitive topic,” said Emma Oxford, Elliott’s widow. “Wangira examined the challenge of eradicating FGM, yet gave hope that tech-savvy young women in Kenya are finding new ways to support girls at risk.”
Wangira will receive the Elliott award and a cash prize at a reception in New York on May 21. She will spend time in U.S. newsrooms to learn new skills and share knowledge. In addition, she will complete a two-week internship at The Economist’s headquarters in London.
Congratulations!
Courageous reporting. That is one of the key ingredients of award-winning journalism. To make it to the top in your journalistic work, any awards panel would be searching for at least the following five factors in your story:
1. The subject is about a matter of significant public interest. Nearly all scribes report about MCA brawls in the county assemblies and love triangles. But these reports won’t win you any award. Stories about what politician A said or what one mighty prophet predicted have their place. But an award-winning story should be about an important subject beyond mere utterances of routine newsmakers.
2. Likely an untold story. If you are lucky you can do a report about something completely new, like Wangira’s feature story about use of an app to fight FGM. But award-winning stories need not be about something completely new. It could be a story about a new or unforeseen dimension of a well-known issue.
3. Great storytelling. The story shows that the reporter is a master communicator who employs a variety of narrative styles, great photography and other elements to grab and hold the audience’s attention from start to finish.
4. Story demonstrates courage, reveals reporter as knowledgeable, curious and capable of researching and communicating a complex issue and is committed to using the power of journalism to advance the public good.
5. Finally, the award-winning story is an example of excellence in journalism, showcases the profession as an important and necessary human endeavour that adds value to society.
Now, go forth ye scribe beyond the obvious “churnalism” and do an award-winning story.
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Talking about which, MCK’s Journalism Excellence Awards 2019 applications are ongoing. The best will be awarded after a rigorous independent shortlisting and judging processes. All you need is to submit your application by filling in the application form. The applications close on 07 June, 2019. The award ceremony is scheduled for August 9.
Good luck!
