Nigerian journalist, Philip Obaji, a correspondent for The Daily Beast on Wednesday won the 2023 One World Media International Journalist of the Year award at a ceremony in London,
Obaji is the first Nigerian to win this category of the award, with the Founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Fisayo Soyombo previously listed as a finalist for the award category in 2020.
Editor of FIJ, Damilola Ayeni was also longlisted for the same category in this year’s edition.
The One World Media International Journalist of the Year award recognizes a filmmaker or journalist working in any medium who has made the most outstanding contribution to international journalism during the past year.
The runners-up for the award were The Independent international correspondent, Bel Trew, and the Financial Times Africa editor, David Pilling.
Among other investigative reports, Obaji is known for his investigations into the activities of the Russian Wagner Private Military Company.
In awarding the prize to Obaji, One World Media noted that his reports last year on Russian involvement in conflict across Africa “helped change the way the world understood the Wagner Group” and his two-and-a-half-year investigation into Facebook’s use as a marketplace for underaged girls uncovered the carelessness of the social media giant.
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Obaji’s younger brother, Bryan, received the award on behalf of the journalist, who had travelled to Pamplona, Spain, to accept the Jaime Brunet International Prize for the promotion of human rights, an award that had previously been won by Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama.
Among other global awards, Obaji is the inaugural recipient of the Jim Hoge Reporting Fellowship awarded by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
The International Journalist of the Year award is one of 15 categories of the One World Media Awards, which celebrate the media’s best coverage of the global south, spotlighting underreported stories that break stereotypes, change the narrative and connect people across cultures.
According to Yalda Hakim, Host, One World Media Awards 2023, “All these amazing finalists should be celebrated for their tenacity in sharing these incredible stories that otherwise would have gone unheard of. From coal mines to costumed activists, from corrupt police to campaigning doctors, all of these stories are leading the way in how international reporting should be done.”
Other category winners are listed below:
For a single television or online video news report or feature that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south.
Winner:
Inside Al-Shabaab | Channel 4 News | Jamal Osman
For a piece of media, including broadcast, digital, audio, print or film, that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south through creative treatment of an issue. The media should reach a wider audience potentially less familiar with global south and help to provide a more accurate, balanced perspective.
Winner🏆:
How a Massacre of Nearly 300 in Syria Was Revealed | New Lines Magazine | Ugur Ungor and Annsar Shahhoud
For a feature article (750 words or longer) published in print or online that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south. This may include specialist features such as sports, music, food and health.
Winner🏆:
The drug was meant to save children’s lives. Instead, they’re dying | TBIJ | Rosa Furneaux, Laura Margottini, Chrissie Giles, Paul Eccles.
For websites, interactive online features, apps, interactive documentaries and other digital technologies that use creative and innovative techniques and content to extend knowledge and understanding of, and engagement with, the global south.
Winner🏆:
Reconstructing the “Melilla Massacre” | Lighthouse Reports | Klaas van Dijken, Maud Jullien, Beatriz Ramalho Da Silva, Bashar Deeb & Jack Sapoch.
Sponsored by WaterBear Network
For a piece of media, including broadcast, online, audio, print or film, that explores the relationship between people and the planet. In particular, we are interested in these areas: changing cities, the climate crisis, energy, environmental health, environmental justice, food, water, wildlife and zero waste.
Winner🏆:
‘It was a set-up, we were fooled’: the coal mine that ate an Indian village | Freelance/The Guardian | Ankur Paliwal.
For a feature-length (over 40 minutes) documentary film that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south.
Winner🏆:
UÝRA – The Rising Forest | Mama Wolf & Azores Filmes | Juliana Curi
For an audio feature, podcast, or single programme from a series, broadcast on radio or online, that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south.
Winner🏆:
I Will Not Grow Old Here | Radio Workshop | Mary-Ann Nobele.
For a piece of media, including broadcast, online, audio, print or film, that covers refugee and asylum-seeker issues by telling compelling stories that generate empathy, understanding and are reported on accurately and fairly.
Winner🏆:
Seven stowaways and a hijacked oil tanker: the strange case of the Nave Andromeda | Guardian News & Media | Samira Shackle
For a short documentary film that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south. The short film must be between 5 and 40 minutes.
Winner🏆:
The Leopard’s Tribe | Freelance/Miriam Chandy Menacherry
For an independent media organisation based in the global south using media to address social, cultural, political and economic issues. The Award seeks to recognise and encourage outstanding reporting that informs the public, provides an outlet for local people’s voices, creates a space for critical information and holds those in power to account.
Winner🏆:
Laboratorio de Periodismo y Opinión Pública (POPLab) | Mexico
For a piece of media, including film, radio, digital or print, made by a student as part of a journalism or filmmaking course at a university or film school that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south.
Winner🏆:
Khayelitsha (Our new home) | National Film and Television School | Pieter Genee
Sponsored by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
For a factual journalistic programme broadcast on television or online, either standalone or one episode from a series, that deals with stories, topics or issues in, about or related to the global south.
Winner🏆:
Under Poisoned Skies | BBC News Arabic | Jess Kelly & Owen Pinnell
Sponsored by the European Investment Bank
For media, including broadcast, digital, audio, film or print, that explores women’s solutions in the global south. Reporting can showcase stories of girls and women who successfully contributed to tackling challenges faced by women and society at large: solutions to improve women’s financial and economic inclusion, solutions that address the impact of climate change and protect the environment, solutions that increase access to education and health care, or solutions that empower girls and women.
Supported by Plan International
Winner🏆:
How Indian health-care workers use WhatsApp to save pregnant women | Freelance/MIT Technology Review | Sanket Jain