People Journalism Prize for Africa explained

People Journalism Prize for Africa
Country:	Nigeria
Award2 Type:	Journalism
Firstawarded:	2020
Presenter:	Gatefield
Awarded For:	Public service journalism
Current Awards:	2020 PJPA
Reward:	$3000

The People Journalism Prize for Africa (PJPA) is a public service journalism award that recognizes outstanding journalists and citizen reporters in Africa, whose work have resulted in positive change and impact in the society. PJPA was created in 2020 with an inaugural endowment of US $3000 from the founders, Gatefield, a sub-saharan Africa based public strategy and media group.^[1] The inaugural edition of the award was received by investigative journalists, Kiki Mordi and Fisayo Soyombo in February 2020.^{[2] [3]}

Inaugural event

The 2019 PJPA award was held in Abuja on February 20, 2020, World Social Justice Day, in line with the vision of the initiative, which is to defend social justice through promoting independent journalism and free media. The award ceremony had a lineup of speakers including the country heads of the UN Women, Open Society Initiative for West Africa among others. The UN took advantage of the event to advocate for the passage of the sexual harassment bill, while the first joint winner, Fisayo, announced the donation of his funds to a non-profit that champions criminal justice reforms. During the event, a social justice advocate, Segun Awosanya, was presented with the 2019 People Champion award.^[4]

Judges

The winners of the PJPA award are judged by the following persons who serve on the board of the Gatefield Impact Foundation.

• Adewunmi Emoruwa, Lead Strategist at Gatefield
• Eromo Egbejule, award-winning journalist and Africa Editor, OZY.com
• Mercy Abang, an award-winning journalist
• Saadatu Hamu Aliyu, Curator at the World Economic Forums Abuja Global Shapers Hub

Recipients

Year	Recipient	Award Category
2021	Daneel Knoetze	People Journalist for Africa 2021^[5]
	Lucy Kassa	People Journalist for Informed Commentary 2021
	Debo Adedayo (Mr Macaroni)	People Newsmaker for Social Justice 2021
2020	Hopewell Chin'ono	People Journalist for Africa 2020^[6]
	David Hundeyin	People Journalist for Informed Commentary 2020^[7]
	Feminist Coalition	People Newsmaker for Social Justice 2020
2019	Fisayo Soyombo	People Journalist for Africa 2019
	Kiki Mordi

References

1. News: Nnabugwu. Treasure. January 22, 2020. INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS RECEIVE $3000 ENDOWMENT PRIZE IN NIGERIA. Ventures Africa.
2. News: Babatunde. Aishat. February 21, 2020. Award-winning journalist donates cash prize to release of inmates. Premium Times.
3. News: Olatunji. Haleem. January 20, 2020. Fisayo Soyombo, Kiki Mordi win $3,000 Journalism Prize. The Cable.
4. News: Ogune. Matthew. 22 February 2020. UN urges passage of sexual harassment bill. Guardian Nigeria.
5. Web site: Gatefield's People Journalism Prize for Africa 2021 Winners . 3 May 2022 .
6. Web site: Makonyonga. Trevor. Chin'ono wins Gatefield People's Journalism Award. BusStop TV. 23 February 2021 .
7. Web site: 11 February 2021. Nigerian Journalist, David Hundeyin wins The People Journalism Prize for Africa Award. Newswire NGR.