Huge Win for Kiki Mordi as She wins Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling

Investigative journalist Kiki Mordi has been named the 2020 winner of the Michael Elliott Award for ‘Excellence in African Storytelling’ for her Emmy nominated documentary “Sex for Grades” which revealed sexual harassment facing students at two universities in Nigeria and Ghana.

The Elliott Award which was established in 2016 is given by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in partnership with ONE and the Elliott family aims to “advance the work of an emerging journalist covering Africa who strives to strengthen people’s voices and improve their well-being.”

Its previous winners include Kenyan journalists Mercy Juma and Dorcas Wangira, and Nigerian journalist Abubakar Ibrahim.

“Mordi’s work demonstrates extreme courage, tenacity, investigative ability and the patience needed to tell such a complex story with undeniable evidence. It is Africa’s answer to #MeToo.” the 2019 Elliott Award winner and a member of this year’s jury Wangira said.

“The Elliott family is proud to work with ICFJ and ONE, and our many generous supporters, to help advance the development of quality journalism in Africa. We congratulate this year’s winner, Kiki Mordi, for her courageous and influential work, and finalist Mahmoud Elwakea for his creative multimedia story on an important topic. I am grateful to the staff of ICFJ, and to my fellow judges for their careful review of the many inspiring entries. I am especially grateful to Norman Pearlstine, executive editor of the Los Angeles Times], a longtime friend and mentor to my late husband, for his wise guidance of the selection process since the program’s inception.” Emma Oxford, Elliott’s widow said.

Making the announcement, the International Centre for Journalists wrote: “With the Elliott family & @ONECampaign, we’re thrilled to present Nigerian journalist Kiki Mordi (@kikimordi) the 2020 Michael Elliott Award for African Storytelling. Her documentary uncovered sexual harassment at universities and had a tremendous impact.”

The excited journalist reacting to the news wrote:

Thrilled to accept the 2020 Michael Elliot Award for Storytelling. I’ve come so far from the small town radio to international media and I have a lot of people to thank for it! Thank you to the Elliot family, @ICFJ and @ONECampaign for this honor

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