Congratulations to the Winners!
The Road to a Just Energy Transition
The Outlier
South Africa
Unlike other investigations that focused solely on coal production zones in South Africa and the risks to miners, The Outlier wanted to help its audience understand the complexities of energy transition and how it would ’shift power’ across the country. Therefore, the team embarked on a journey through 5 provinces to document the positive and negative impacts of cleaner forms of energy. The feature is visually structured around the country’s electricity grid and explores various energy sources: coal, wind, solar, and green hydrogen. For the judges, this is “an important story that weaves different sets of data together through narrative.”
Palesa’s Brave Discovery
Food For Mzansi Group
South Africa
After a devastating public health crisis occurred in South Africa in late 2024—where 22 children lost their lives to exposure to highly toxic pesticides—Food For Mzansi launched Palesa’s Brave Discovery: a multimedia strategy that included a multilingual children’s booklet, Whatsapp alerts, an audio story and a video series for social channels. The project focused on addressing misinformation, tracing the sources of the illegal pesticides, and empowering communities with accurate, science-backed information. Aware of the limitations of digital access, the booklet was also distributed in printed form, transforming it into an educational tool. The judges commented: “It’s engaging and rich visual storytelling approach easily captured the attention of young audiences and the broader community.”
The User Needs Impact Project 360
Pulse Africa
Nigeria
After observing low engagement and signs of content fatigue among its audience, Pulse Nigeria launched “The User Needs Impact Project 360”, a content creation strategy based on the User Needs Model developed by Dmitry Shishkin, a former BBC executive. By prioritising audience preferences and leveraging intelligent platform tools to evaluate content effectiveness across different metrics, Pulse saw a significant improvement in audience engagement across their multiple platforms. In the judges’ words: “The User Needs Impact Project 360 is a highly innovative approach to content creation, focusing on audience needs.”
Elections ’24
Daily Maverick
South Africa
Ahead of the most important national elections in South Africa, the team at Daily Maverick aimed to educate voters based on their readers’ needs. To achieve this, they created the newsletter Elections’24. Each edition began with a listicle presenting the most relevant information, which readers appreciated for its “brevity and easy-to-read format.”. The newsletter engaged the audience by inviting them to submit their questions and concerns about the election process—topics the team covered in subsequent editions. With an open rate of 78.4% and subscriber growth nearly five times its original audience, Elections’24 became Daily Maverick’s most successful newsletter.
SHORT-FORM DOCUMENTARY | ’I don’t want to lose myself, ’ Carol de Swardt’s assisted suicide
Netwerk24
South Africa
Through a partnership among four different Afrikaans publishers, Netwerk24 released a documentary chronicle series narrating the journey of Carol de Swardt, a 63-year-old South African woman seeking access to assisted suicide in Switzerland. The team sought to link an intimate, personal journey with a wider conversation around this issue, portraying not only de Swardt’s experience but also the legal, ethical, and medical complexities surrounding the topic. As a result, the publisher saw increased engagement from their paying audience, contributing to higher subscriber retention. The jury praised the documentary’s “very powerful and realistic visuals” and commented that it “…has been beautifully and sympathetically filmed.”
Daily Maverick Shutdown
Daily Maverick
South Africa
Since 2019, Daily Maverick has operated on a donation-based revenue model, with only 0.25% of their readers contributing despite a growing audience. To spotlight the urgent need to keep journalism sustainable, the publisher shut down for 24 hours—no articles were published on their website, nor were any shared across their different channels. The initiative led to a surge in donations, new advertising interest, and increased contributions from existing subscribers. According to the jury: “The campaign succeeded in its bid to grab attention, emphasize the value of the newspaper’s content to its readers, and boost short-term metrics significantly. Brilliant!” And noted that “While it created an immediate surge in sign-ups and funding, the organisation has committed to maintaining this momentum long-term.”
Manifesto MAYHEM!
Daily Maverick
South Africa
MwanaClick: A Digital Revolution in News and Content Access
Mwananchi Communications Limited
Tanzania
Aiming to provide interactive and engaging content for their readers and to reach new audiences beyond Tanzania, Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) developed MwanaClick, a dynamic, one-stop digital kiosk that brings together publications from MCL, other East African publishers, and a digital library featuring financial and business reports. The platform also integrates an AI assistant, allowing readers to access content in audio format. The jury remarked the project’s commitment to accelerating ePaper adoption and reducing print reliance.
Hausa AI News: amplifying indigenous voices with technology
Legit.ng
Nigeria
To address the underrepresentation of indigenous-language news content, Legit.ng is integrating AI into its newsroom operations to optimize and produce high-quality content in Hausa—one of the most widely spoken native languages in Nigeria. The publisher has streamlined content creation, proofreading, translation, and fact-checking processes. The increased offering of news articles in Hausa has not only improved the efficiency of news production but has also led to a rise in page views and the time users spend on individual articles. The jury panel said: “With its responsible implementation of AI, Legit.ng is ensuring that AI does not replace journalists but, instead, enables them to serve people in more ways.”
Relaunch of Africa Business+
Jeune Afrique Media Group
Tunisia
Africa Business+ is a B2B publication focused on corporate affairs and project development in Africa, launched in 2017. In 2024, the website underwent a complete redesign and expanded its news sections to provide quicker, more user-friendly access to information. As a result, the publication reported strong retention rates and a spike in subscriber engagement. Jurors described the new site’s image as clean, fast, and professional, adding that “the redesign and new platform, along with its enhanced features, provide greater clarity, context, and quick access to the economic news that matters for the continent.”
Die Burger Facebook Posters
Media 24
South Africa
Die Burger, a broadsheet South African newspaper, ceased printing street posters due to cost-cutting measures and the Covid-19 lockdown. Seeking to preserve the art of poster writing, the team shifted their efforts to social media—continuing to explore new revenue streams and drive traffic to Netwerk24, Die Burger’s digital platform. As a result, the initiative not only saved time and eliminated production costs, but also demonstrated value to clients. The high engagement rates in social channels of this form of ‘fastvertising’ increased demand and highlighted its potential as an effective advertising tool.