Kiki Mordi Wins the Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling
A Nigerian Investigative journalist and media personality, Kiki Mordi has been named winner of the 2020 Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling for her documentary, Sex for Grades which revealed sexual harassment faced by students of two universities in Nigeria and Ghana. Kiki Mordi emerged winner among 184 other submissions by talented Africans from various countries.
The Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling which was established in 2016 is a collaboration between the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), the ONE Campaign and the Elliott family. The award honours emerging journalists in Africa who are dedicated to strengthening people’s voices and shinning the spotlight on the transformational changes taking place on the continent. The award was established in honour of Michael Elliott, an outstanding editor, philanthropist and former ICFJ director, whose life centred around storytelling that witnessed to and improved the human condition.
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Kiki Mordi’s winning Sex for Grades documentary attracted worldwide attention and helped trigger the #MeToo movement to Africa. So far, the video has been viewed nearly six million times on YouTube.
While commenting on her award, 2019 Elliott Award winner who was also juror for this year’s award, Wangira described the impacts of Kiki Mordi’s work. Wangira stated that
”Mordi’s work demonstrates extreme courage, tenacity, investigative ability and the patience needed to tell such a complex story with undeniable evidence.”
Kiki Mordi will embark on a customized digital immersion program designed to advance her professional development. She will share knowledge with journalists from top U.S newsroom and learn new skills from media mentors.
For her impacts in investigative journalism and African storytelling, she was nominated for the 2020 International Emmy and won the 2020 People Journalism Prize for Africa. In 2019, she also won the People Journalism Prize for Africa and the Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards for being an Outstanding Radio Program Presenter.