The $1 million the African Story Challenge is looking to award cash prizes and international reporting trips to top twenty multimedia projects with innovative storytelling techniques using data journalism tools and production $20,000 grant.
Now in its third round, the first African Story Challenge was on Agriculture and Food Security, the second was on Health and the latest cycle is on Business and Technology and is a project of the African Media Initiative (AMI), the continent’s largest association of media owners and operators..
Joseph Warungu, the project lead and an AMI Content Development Director and former Knight International Journalism Fellow, said, “This competition aims at encouraging and supporting African media to promote a better quality of life for our people by producing more and better stories on the issues that really matter” said Warungu, a former BBC Africa Editor. “Politics is important, but it’s not everything.”
According to AMI’s statement, shortlisted stories work on any topical business and technology angle of interest to a wider African audience. The stories have to employ in-depth research and investigative journalism and engage in cross-platform approaches and interactive applications to ensure they reach as many people as possible on a variety of media devices.
AMI Chief Executive Amadou Mahtar Ba added, “It’s widely acknowledged that Africa is on the rise and leading the way on many fronts such as mobile money. To continue telling this story of growth and innovation well, the media in Africa must be supported and strengthened. AMI is committed to this goal through the Story Challenge and by finding disruptive digital ideas for improving the way that news is collected and disseminated.”
The Knight Fellowships are administered by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).