THE WOLE Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) has opened entries for the 21st Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting (WSAIR), calling on professional Nigerian journalists and teams to submit outstanding public-interest investigations published within the specified eligibility period.
The call for entries opened on Sunday, October 4, 2026, and will close at 4pm on Saturday, October 24, 2026.
Entries are to be submitted online through the award portal, with the organisers stating that hard-copy submissions will not be accepted this year.
The award recognises investigative journalism that exposes or prevents corruption, uncovers failures by regulatory agencies and highlights human rights violations in Nigeria.
Eligible categories are print, online, television, radio, photojournalism and editorial cartoon.
The call is open to professional Nigerian journalists aged 18 and above, as well as teams of journalists, including full-time and freelance practitioners, whose published work is targeted at a Nigerian audience.
However, journalists who have won the award on three previous occasions are not eligible to enter.
According to WSCIJ, submitted works must have been published between October 4, 2025 and October 3, 2026 and must focus on public or corporate corruption, human rights violations or failures of regulatory agencies.
The 21st edition marks more than two decades of the award, which was established in 2005 to recognise and encourage courageous, ethical and impactful investigative journalism in Nigeria.
Over the years, the award has become one of the country’s prominent platforms for recognising journalism that holds institutions and powerful interests to account.
WSCIJ said entries will first be reviewed by a screening committee to determine whether they meet the investigative requirements before being forwarded to an independent panel of judges.
The judging process will assess submissions against criteria including investigative depth, evidence, human-rights considerations, ethical standards, courage, creativity, public interest, impact and presentation.
The Centre’s coding system is used to conceal the identities of media organisations and reporters from judges, while entries are also subjected to plagiarism checks.
WSCIJ said a category may have no finalist if submitted works fail to meet the required standards. It also reserves the right to disqualify an entry or finalist where there are reasonable doubts about the authenticity or accuracy of the work or the professional integrity of a finalist.
The scale of interest in the award was demonstrated by the 2025 edition, which received 180 entries. Of those, 129 met the eligibility requirements, comprising 32 print entries, 64 online entries, 19 broadcast entries – 11 television and eight radio – eight photojournalism entries and six editorial cartoons.
Fifteen journalists subsequently emerged as finalists.
WSCIJ said the award has so far produced 144 finalists, 71 Soyinka Laureates and 13 recipients of the Investigative Journalist of the Year award, in addition to 33 honorary award recipients under its Lifetime Award for Journalistic Excellence and Anti-Corruption/Human Rights Defender categories.
The 2026 award comes at a time when WSCIJ is placing renewed emphasis on the role of investigative journalism in connecting official narratives with citizens’ lived realities and moving reporting beyond exposure towards accountability.
In recent engagements, the Centre has argued that investigative journalism should not stop at revealing wrongdoing but should also track institutional responses and whether corrective action produces measurable changes for citizens.
The 21st award presentation ceremony is scheduled to hold in Lagos on Wednesday, December 9, 2026.
