The search for this year’s BBC News Komla Dumor Award winner has started.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Dumor, the Ghanaian journalist whose memory the award honors. Dumor died suddenly at age 41 a decade ago.
He joined the BBC African Service in 2007, after more than a decade working as a radio presenter in his native Ghana and became the lead presenter of the BBC’s first daily television program for Africa.
“Komla Dumor’s journalism and unforgettable screen presence, his passionate commitment to reporting Africa were a powerful driver of the BBC’s coverage of the continent,” says Liliane Landor, BBC world service director.
Africa’s journalistic excellence
“Through his legacy we want to continue to celebrate Africa’s journalistic excellence,” she states.
“We have been impressed and delighted with the calibre of talent that has shone through, thanks to the award in Komla’s name. We are proud to continue to nurture and enhance the skills of these journalists here at the BBC,” she added.
The winner of the BBC News Komla Dumor Award will spend three months working with the BBC news teams in London, across television, radio and online.
He or she will be allowed to further develop their journalism skills through training, workshops and mentoring with leading BBC journalists.
The successful candidate will also have the opportunity to travel to a country in Africa to report on a story that they identify and research, and that will become part of the BBC’s content for global audience.
Interested persons wanting to apply for the prestigious award must be currently living and working as a journalist in Africa, and have excellent journalism skills, including in digital and social media, with preferably a broadcasting experience, be an excellent broadcasting personality, voice and strong presenting skills with the ability to perform at the microphone and in front of the camera with flair, and with the ability to identify and pitch a strong original African story idea, aligned to the BBC editorial guideline, among others.