The Plateau State Correspondent of the Vanguard newspapers, Marie-Therese Nanlong has emerged winner in one of the categories of the African Union Agenda 2063 Pitch Zone Awards.

The female journalists selected as the finalists were announced on the 9th of December 2022 at the African Women in Media (AWiM) conference 2022 held in Fes, Morocco.

The event that is held every year, during the annual AWiM conference, this year 2022,five female journalists were allowed to pitch their story ideas to the African Union, according to set categories, and winners are supposed to produce in-depth and evidence-based stories that reflect the progress and impact of the implementation of Agenda 2063 on the continent, under each thematic area.

At the ceremony in Fes, winners were announced for three of the five categories; Marie-Therese Nanlong ,Nigerian practicing journalist was selected the front runner winner in the category on the AU Theme of the Year 2022, The Year of Nutrition, “Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent: Strengthening agro-food systems, health, and social protection systems for the acceleration of human, social and economic capital development.”

Her series of stories will delve into how to scale actions that address the challenges of food scarcity, malnutrition and how regional and continental trade offers exponential potential for the continent to meet the food demands of every African citizen.

Ms. Elizabeth Angira from East Africa (Kenya) ,won in the category of Promoting efforts towards the Economic and Financial Inclusion of African Women (Agenda 2063 Aspiration 6, AU Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy (GEWE); the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol), and the AU Constitutive Act.

Ms. Angira’s series of stories will advocate for the rights of women, and breaking the culture of harmful practices that continues to hamper the full realization of those rights. She will also interrogate the implementation of policies and laws that safeguard those rights.

Ms. Melody Chikono (Zimbabwe) was selected as the winner in the category on Promoting the Rights of Children in Africa (Agenda 2063 Aspiration 6, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children).

Her series of stories will amplify the voices of children in advocating for their rights. The series will also showcase the significance of promoting the rights of children for the continent to prepare its future, from which it can harness the demographic dividend.

While announcing the winners on behalf of Ms. Leslie Richer, AU Director of Information and Communication, Mrs. Wynne Musabayana, Head of Communication, restated the commitment of the African Union that is driven by the desire to ensure that the media engage with Africa’s development from a position of knowledge about the different key issues.

She stated, “With the funding received, each winner will have sufficient means to produce relevant, evidence-based, and timely content in their chosen format: content that digs deep into the issues to answer the famous five W’s and one H of journalism.”

She concluded, “We are encouraged by the presence of so many professional women journalists who are determined to make their mark in telling the many stories of success, challenges, and mitigation measures, as well as the concrete plans for a brighter future, that are made by our heads of state and government and other policy and decision-makers, with the participation of the African public.”

However, Dr. Yemisi Akinbobola, Co-founder & CEO, of African Women in Media, restated the vision of the Pitch Zone since its inception in 2017 as a platform to create opportunities for women journalists to produce the kind of stories that will give them the level of visibility, they need for their career development.

She said, “Our partnership with the African Union since 2019 in achieving this means that the winners get continental exposure and are at the same time contributing to the broader objective of changing the narrative of Africa. Our research shows that the allocation of resources and roles in newsrooms are often gendered, and we hope the Pitch Zone Awards continues to do its part in bridging this gap.