The investigative journalism platform, a partner of ZAM Magazine, is a breeding ground for many talented journalists.
They did it again. Africa Uncensored (AU), the Nairobi based investigative in-depth collective, collected prizes at the 9th Annual Journalism Excellence Awards (#AJEA2021) early May 2021. Ever since its co-founder, John Allan Namu, traded his secure job as editor and news anchor at a major Kenyan media house for the adventure of starting his own media collective, Africa Uncensored has been successful. In business since 2015, their investigations have not gone unnoticed. Every year AU win national and international prizes for their productions and what's even more important, their stories have impact. For instance, the documentary Saving Esther provoked public outcry, media headlines and parliamentary debates in Kenya. This documentary was directed by Joy Kirigia, one of the stellar journalists at Africa Uncensored. Worth mentioning is that the documentary was inspired by an investigation Joy Kirigia did for ZAM in 2019. Her investigation into ‘Shiny New Useless Machines’ was of a broader pan-African investigative program. At this year's AJEA ceremony Joy won first prize for her documentary. Africa Uncensored appears to be a fertile breeding ground for upcoming journalistic talent. Maurice Oniang'o won the first prize at AJEA2021 for the documentary Kenya's Debt Cycle and Peris Gachahi for her TV show Behind the Lens on gender based domestic violence in Kenya. These were only the winning productions, many more were short listed. Check out Africa Uncensored's website for more.
