Africa Media Awards

Honouring courageous reporting and lifetime dedication to journalism
Rooted in a vision for a just and accountable Africa, the Africa Media Awards were born from a partnership between Baraza Media Lab, The Africa Editors Forum (TAEF), and Journalists for Human Rights (JHR). Held alongside the Africa Media Festival, these awards celebrate journalism that challenges power, defends human rights, and reimagines media’s role on the continent.

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Our Awards

Human Rights Journalism Awards

Honouring three journalists whose reporting has exposed injustice, given voice to the vulnerable, and altered the public conversation.

TAEF Award for Lifetime Service to Journalism

Recognising editors whose career-long commitment to accuracy, integrity, and mentorship has strengthened Africa’s media.

Featured Awards

🏆 2025 Laureate: Service to Journalism Award

Durra Mohammed Gambo | Sudan

There are those who document history, and those who stand inside it — unwavering, even as it unfolds in real time.

In a world where conflict seeks silence and power evades scrutiny, Durra Mohammed Gambo has refused to look away. Her reporting has carried the weight of a nation’s unrest, giving voice to those who might otherwise go unheard, and refusing to trade integrity for safety. Trapped in a besieged city, threatened by both sides of a war that demanded allegiance to a single narrative, she chose instead to remain — not as a bystander, but as a witness. Her work has brought clarity in chaos, insisting that truth matters, even when telling it comes at great personal cost.

At the Africa Media Festival in 2025, The Africa Editors Forum awarded Durra Mohammed Gambo the Service to Journalism Award, honouring a career defined by courage, resilience, and an unshakable belief in the role of journalism in defending freedom.

Durra Mohammed Gambo, recipient of the 2025 Service to Journalism Award.
Mathatha Tsedu receives the Service to Journalism Award at the Africa Media Festival Speakers & Partners Dinner, held at Baraza Media Lab in 2024.

🏆 2024 Laureate: Service to Journalism Award

Mathatha Tsedu | South Africa

At the 2024 Africa Media Festival, we honoured Mathatha Tsedu for a lifetime shaped by clarity, conviction, and an unflinching commitment to truth.

From reporting under apartheid to co-founding the Africa Editors Forum in 2005, Mathatha’s work has stood as a force against silence and repression. He exposed injustice with precision and courage, championed regional solidarity, and nurtured generations of journalists across the continent.

His influence extends beyond newsrooms. Mathatha Tsedu has helped shape the very foundations of independent media in Africa, bridging divides, building alliances, and standing firm in moments when integrity was tested.

We honour not only his professional legacy, but his generosity, his mentorship, and his enduring belief in journalism as a public duty.

Here’s to Mathatha Tsedu — a living record of what principled leadership in journalism looks like, and a lasting presence in the story of African media.

Why These Awards Matter

Journalists on the continent face censorship, threats, and violence. These awards stand with those who risk their safety to document truth. By recognising their work, we underscore media’s role in defending democracy and human rights.

Selection Process

Governance

  • Advisory Board: Seasoned media and human-rights professionals guiding strategy.
  • Jury: Independent experts assessing impact, ethics, and investigative depth.
  • Secretariat: Managing nominations, outreach, and logistics.

Nomination

  • Open to published works (Feb 2023–Feb 2025) by journalists reporting within Africa.
  • Entries accepted from individuals, media houses, and civil-society groups.
  • Criteria: impact on policy or public awareness, ethical rigor, and depth of investigation.

Lifetime Service

  • Nominations by veteran editors.
  • Shortlist and final selection by a distinguished jury of Africa Editors Council members.

How to Get Involved

We welcome organisations to join us in expanding this platform. Whether as jury members, sponsors, or partners in outreach, your support ensures these awards grow into Africa’s foremost recognition of principled journalism.
Become a Partner

The Africa Media Awards are presented each year during the Africa Media Festival — a leading continental gathering for journalists, editors, and creatives.

Vacancies

We currently have no openings but kindly check out and subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter Barua Ya Baraza for vacancies and opportunities within the broader ecosystem

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