Two HumAngle investigations were recognised at the 2025 Excellence in Journalism Awards in West Africa, winning in the health reporting category and placing as first runner-up in sexual and gender-based violence reporting.
The awards, organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), drew 275 entries from across the region and were announced during the Media and Development Conference in Abuja, North Central Nigeria, on Wednesday, November 26.
The top prize in health reporting went to “Amid Deforestation Scourge, Vanishing Herbal Plants Pose Health Crisis in Southwestern Nigeria”, an investigation by freelance journalist Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi published by HumAngle with support from the Pulitzer Centre. His reporting detailed how worsening deforestation threatens access to traditional medicine for rural Nigerians, deepening risks from malaria, typhoid, and other common illnesses.
Abdulwaheed, who covers environment and health issues for several local and international outlets, urged young reporters to keep pursuing impactful stories as he received his award. He has previously served as a Health Reporting Fellow at the Wits Centre for Journalism in Johannesburg and is a member of the Oxford Climate Society.
HumAngle also earned recognition in the sexual and gender-based violence category, where Managing Editor Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu’s investigation, “A Tragic Femicide Case in Northeastern Nigeria Smells Like Honour Killing”, emerged as first runner-up.
The story exposed the killing of a young girl by her uncle in Bama, Borno State, revealing the entrenched gender-based violence and systemic failures faced by women and girls in Nigeria’s conflict-affected North East.
Following publication, the investigation generated national attention for its detailed reporting and sensitive narration, prompting authorities to declare the suspect wanted. He has yet to be arrested.
Hauwa, a conflict reporter with bylines in multiple international publications, documents the human toll of terrorism and insurgency through long-form storytelling and documentary work. She has won several journalism fellowships, including the 2025 FASPE Journalism Fellowship and the 2024 Ochberg Fellowship at the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma. She is also a Pulitzer Centre grantee.
HumAngle’s multiple recognitions underscore the newsroom’s commitment to covering the human cost of conflict and humanitarian crisis, to bear witness and also hold authorities to account, especially in communities frequently missing from mainstream narratives.
The CJID awards honour impactful journalism across West Africa, with categories spanning investigations, fact-checking, public service reporting, climate journalism, environment, politics, and gender.
The award’s panel of judges disclosed that the entries were graded for accuracy and fairness, originality and innovativeness of the reporter, depth of research, storytelling, and public impact, as well as adherence to standards of reporting. This year’s finalists included journalists from Nigeria and Ghana.
HumAngle journalists received honors at the 2025 Excellence in Journalism Awards by CJID, with two investigations being recognized. Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi’s investigation won the health reporting category, highlighting the impacts of deforestation on access to traditional medicine in Southwestern Nigeria. Managing Editor Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu’s piece on femicide in Northeastern Nigeria was the first runner-up in the sexual and gender-based violence category, drawing national attention to gender-based violence and related systemic failures.
The awards, part of the Media and Development Conference held in Abuja, Nigeria, celebrated impactful journalism across West Africa, encompassing categories like fact-checking, public service, and climate journalism. The judging criteria evaluated accuracy, fairness, originality, depth of research, storytelling, and public impact. HumAngle’s achievements emphasize their dedication to reporting the human consequences of conflict and holding authorities accountable, often highlighting overlooked communities.