Kenyan journalist among three Africans honoured in global journalism awards

Kenyan journalist Angeline Ochieng was among three African reporters recognised in the 2026 Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards for outstanding public interest reporting. [Fle,Standard]

Three African journalists have won the 2026 Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards for reporting on migration, women's sports and maternal health across the continent.

Kenyan journalist Angeline Ochieng received a special mention in the awards, becoming one of three African reporters recognised for journalism that documents underreported issues across the continent.

The International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, announced the winners on Thursday, June 25, after reviewing 320 submissions from journalists in 40 African countries.

Ochieng received the honour for her story, The Converts: How Reformed Midwives Are Ending Maternal Deaths, which follows former traditional birth attendants in rural Kenya who abandoned the practice and now encourage expectant mothers to deliver in hospitals.

The story documents how the shift reduced maternal deaths and birth complications in their communities.

Nigerian freelance journalist Rakiya Muhammad won first place for West Africa's Borderless Women: Inside the Yoruba Sisterhood Linking Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire.

The article documents the decades-long migration of women from Ejigbo in southwest Nigeria to Côte d'Ivoire, where they have become dominant in Abidjan's markets while maintaining economic and cultural ties with their hometown.

Up to 80 per cent of Ejigbo's funding comes from residents living in Côte d'Ivoire, according to the story.

"Receiving this honour renews my passion for telling stories that place African women at the heart of the narrative as active agents of development, leadership and social change," said Muhammad.

Second place went to Nigerian sports journalist Abiodun Adewale for Breaking Boundaries: How Nigeria's U-19 Women Are Rewriting Cricket History, which chronicles the country's women's under-19 cricket team as it prepared for and competed at the 2025 International Youth Cricket World Cup.

"Journalism and Wikipedia need each other," said ICFJ President Sharon Moshavi. "The site's volunteer editors rely on independent reporting to build a more complete knowledge resource, and journalists benefit from the global and multilingual reach that the platform provides. These awards recognise that relationship and the African journalists who are making our digital information ecosystems stronger."

"The encyclopaedia is the largest ever assembled, but it is far from complete," said Wikimedia Foundation Chief Communications Officer Anusha Alikhan.

"Having stories written by Africans about the issues they care about is vital to ensuring it is representative of many experiences and perspectives."

Only 3.7 per cent of English-language articles on the site focus on Africa, despite it hosting more than 65 million articles in more than 300 languages.

"From documenting the history of women cross-border traders in West Africa to the achievements of female cricketers, each of these articles brings us a step closer to closing the knowledge gaps we are working on every day," said Olaniyan Ishola Oulushola, president of Wikimedia Nigeria and a member of the awards selection committee.