CCIJ Member Sonja Smith wins two major awards at the EFN Namibia Journalism Awards Ceremony. The NLC Commission engages in legal battles with former employees and others. The CCIJ welcomes new members to the community and holds a photography conversation and training workshop on May 7. See what we’ve been up to!
CCIJ Member and Writer for The Namibian Wins Two Major Awards
On April 29, Sonja Smith was recognized at the EFN Namibia Journalism Awards Ceremony. She won the Best Agriculture & Environment Category award and was awarded Journalist of the Year. Sonja expressed her gratitude for the support of the CCIJ community throughout this process, and we are thrilled for her success!
Read the two articles Sonja was recognized for here and here.
We thank Raymond Joseph and Yaffa Fredrick for their work editing the stories, Scott Lewis for his photo contributions to the articles, and Jillian Dudziak for her work on the designs.
Join us in celebrating this accomplishment of our community and its members!
National Lotteries Commission Battles Former Employees and Others Trying to Hold it Accountable
CCIJ South African Hub Leader Raymond Joseph published yet another revealing investigative piece regarding the South African Lottery. Joseph’s article for GroundUp sheds light on the fact that the National Lotteries Commission has been spending millions of dollars on several legal battles since 2016. One of those costly battles included paying lawyers in order to hide the details of the lottery grant recipients and the amounts that they won. In the article, Joseph writes that the amounts might even be greater than what was disclosed. This is the latest development in Joseph’s ongoing investigation into the commission, which has contributed to CCIJ’s global “Gaming the Lottery” investigation.
Read Raymond Joseph’s full article here.
The Newest Addition to the CCIJ Community
This month, the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism is very excited to welcome our newest member to the community, Miranda Spivack. Please read a short bio regarding Miranda and her accomplishments below, and thanks to Mike Morisy for facilitating this connection. Please join us in welcoming Miranda to our community!
Miranda Spivack is a veteran reporter and editor who specializes in stories about government accountability and state secrecy. She is an Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow in 2021, and formerly was a Journalism Fellow at the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida. Previously she was a Fulbright Scholar in North Macedonia, where she taught journalism; the Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University; an advising editor to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project; and a reporter and editor at The Washington Post for 20 years.
Photography Workshop with Danny Wilcox Frazier (Rescheduled)
Just a reminder that the CCIJ will be hosting the first of its training and workshop series on Friday, May 7th. We are excited to be having a conversation and workshop with Danny Wilcox Frazier, an award-winning photographer and a member of the VII photo agency. Please write Jeff Kelly Lowenstein at jk.lowenstein@ccij.io to register!