Soyombo ‘Fisayo has emerged second-place winner of the 2020 Fetisov Journalism Award in the outstanding investigative reporting category.
Soyombo ‘Fisayo, who recently founded the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was announced winner on the 10th of February 2021.
His undercover investigation on Nigeria’s criminal justice system is among the 12 winning entries announced. A total of 283 works were entered from across 77 countries under four categories.
In a three-part series published on TheCable, he highlighted the rot in the system. He spent two weeks in detention — five days in a police cell and eight as an inmate in Ikoyi Prison, beginning from the moment of arrest by the police to the point of release.
Adopting the pseudonym Ojo Olajumoke, he feigned an offence for which he was arrested and detained in police custody, arraigned in court, and was eventually remanded in prison.
Philip Obaji of SaharaReporters was the second Nigerian among the 12 winners. His story, ‘The Child Refugees Sold Through Facebook’, won the third-place prize in the outstanding contribution to peace category.
FJA announced the winners from a shortlist of 35 works, including from Kelechukwu Iruoma and Ruth Olurounbi, whose joint entry on oil spill pollution in the Niger Delta, published on TheCable.
“The competitive entries were assessed against a set of criteria such as accuracy of information, independence, impartiality and fairness, humanity, transparency, promotion of ethical principles, positive impact on the political, economic or social situation in a particular area, country or globally.”
The FJA honored winners for the Fetisov Journalism Awards 2020 in 4 categories: Outstanding Investigative Reporting, Outstanding Contribution to Peace, Excellence in Environmental Journalism and Contribution to Civil Rights.
The winners were selected in a two-stage judging process. The competitive entries were assessed against a set of criteria such as accuracy of information, independence, impartiality and fairness, humanity, transparency, promotion of ethical principles, positive impact on the political, economic or social situation in a particular area, country or globally.
