By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Media practitioners are invited to submit entries for the 2025 edition of the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA).
Now in its 8th iteration, the awards, organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), will be held in the capital of Ghana from October 9 to 11. Its theme is “Journalism and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in Africa.”
Participants at this year’s event will join the conversation around strategies to build robust advocates and watchdogs of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) initiatives in African media, while ensuring that such initiatives are inclusive and human-rights centred.
In addition to the interactive workshops, the event will also include a roster of awards that honours excellent and impactful journalism within West Africa.
Eligibility Criteria:
- The award is open to print, electronic or broadcast journalists from Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone countries across West Africa.
- Applicants must be working with a media organisation based in the sub-region.
- The entry should be an original work on a media outlet in West Africa published or broadcast between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024.
- Applicants may submit multiple entries, with a maximum of two entries for each category.
Award Categories
The 2025 WAMECA will honour outstanding works of journalism in West Africa within the following categories:
- DPI/DPGs Reporting
- Human Rights Reporting
- Investigative Reporting
- Anti-Corruption Reporting
- Environmental Reporting
- Telecoms and ICTs Reporting
- Reporting on Illicit Financial Flows
- Extractive Sector Reporting
- Women Empowerment Reporting
Interested applicants should UPLOAD published works via the entry form on the WAMECA website.
Award Timeline
The deadline for submitting entries is May 14, 2025, at 17:00 GMT.
Finalists for the WAMECA 2025 Awards will be announced in the first week of September 2025.
Winners of each category will be announced at the West Africa Media Excellence Awards on October 11 in Accra, where the awards ceremony will be held.
The 2025 West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA), organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), invites media practitioners to submit entries. The event, themed “Journalism and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in Africa,” will take place in Ghana's capital from October 9 to 11, focusing on strategies to support Digital Public Infrastructure initiatives that prioritize inclusivity and human rights.
The awards are open to print, electronic, or broadcast journalists from West Africa's Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone countries. Eligible works must be original, published or broadcast between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, from a West African media outlet. Journalists can submit up to two entries per category, via the WAMECA website.
The categories include DPI/DPGs Reporting, Human Rights, Investigative, Anti-Corruption, Environmental, Telecoms and ICTs, Illicit Financial Flows, Extractive Sector, and Women Empowerment Reporting. The submission deadline is May 14, 2025, with finalists announced in September 2025, and category winners to be revealed at the awards ceremony in Accra on October 11.
