Fellowships: Nigerian Journalist Bags International Journalist Of The Year Award

Nigerian journalist, Philip Obaji, a correspondent for The Daily Beast has won the 2023 One World Media International Journalist of the Year award at a ceremony in London.

Obaji is the first Nigerian to receive the honour, with two other Nigerian journalists, previously listed as finalists for the award category.

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.

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.

Media Career Nigeria/Qasim Akinreti