Citizen TV reporter Dorcas Wangira is the winner of this year’s (2019) Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling.
Wangira, who reported on the harm caused by female genital mutilation and the hope offered by five tech-savvy teenage girls, emerged top among 218 applicants.
Her winning report, “The App and The Cut,” aired on KTN News in June 2018. In the 25 minutes feature, Wangira traveled to different communities where girls are forced to undergo the illegal procedure.
UNICEF estimates that at least 200 million girls and women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) worldwide, a large percentage from Africa.
Elliott family.
The prestigious award is given by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in partnership with ONE and the Elliott family.
It was established in 2016 in honor of Michael Elliott, an outstanding editor and philanthropist whose life was a testament to the power of storytelling to bear witness to and improve the human condition.
Other awards she has won in the past include the Mohammed Amin Africa Award for her story on maternal health in Samburu County in 2015 and the 2017 Zimeo Excellence in Media Award.
Mercy Juma & Abubakar Ibrahim
Previous winners of the “Michael Elliott Award” include BBC Africa’s Mercy Juma, who is based in Nairobi and Abubakar Ibrahim, the news editor of Daily Trust in Abuja, Nigeria.
A statement on the International Centre For Journalists website said Dorcas will receive the award and a cash prize in New York on May 21, 2019.
“She also will spend time in U.S. newsrooms to learn new skills and share knowledge in an intensive, customised program run by ICFJ. In addition, she will complete a two-week internship at The Economist’s headquarters in London,” ICFJ said.