Center for Collaborative Investigative JournalismCenter for Collaborative Investigative JournalismSeptember 22, 2022
By Callie Morgan
Screenshot of “An encroaching desert intensifies Nigeria’s farmer-herder crisis” story published by CCIJ.
CCIJ won two awards and an honorable mention at the second annual INNYs, an awards ceremony hosted by the Institute of Nonprofit News to honor excellence in nonprofit journalism.
The organization collected the Game-Changer award and one of the inaugural Visual Journalism awards. Former South African Hub Leader Raymond Joseph was a finalist in the Investigative category for his ongoing and impactful investigation of corruption within the South African lottery. All honors were in the Medium revenue division.
“Our judges commend CCIJ for connecting this community of international journalists with bigger platforms and tools to make their work more powerful while expanding its own newsletter audience and boosting fundraising,” INN’s announcement about the Game Changer award said.
News outlets like The AfricaBrief in Malawi, Ghana Business News in Ghana, HumAngle Media in Nigeria, GroundUp in South Africa and Circle of Blue in the United States regularly publish work done by journalists in the CCIJ community.
The team that produced “An encroaching desert intensifies Nigeria’s farmer-herder crisis” — a group that included journalists Murtala Abdullahi and Kunle Adebajo from HumAngle Media, Design Director Jillian Dudziak, Data Fellow Yuxi Wang and Creative Director Scott Lewis — also won the Visual Journalism Award for their work on the investigative piece.
The judges noted that the “compelling package” included visual training.
Former Africa Editor Lydia Namubiru and Editorial Director Yaffa Fredrick edited the story, which looked at how climate change and human activity are driving violence between farming and pastoralist communities. CCIJ published the work this April in collaboration with HumAngle Media, a Nigerian news outlet that focuses on security issues.
This is the second consecutive year CCIJ’s work has earned an INNY. In 2021, the organization won the inaugural Journalism Collaboration of the Year with SJV Water, with Joseph also earning a finalist recognition. CCIJ is one of a handful of organizations in INN’s network of more than 400 news outlets whose work has been recognized both years the competition has taken place.
Winners were announced at yesterday’s virtual awards ceremony. In total, INN received 407 entries from 129 organizations who competed for 28 awards in 11 different categories.