BBC News launches 2024 Komla Dumor award

The search for this year’s winner of the BBC News Komla Dumor Award has started.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Dumor, the Ghanaian journalist whose memory the award honours. Dumor died suddenly aged 41 a decade ago.

Dumor had 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 programme 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.

“Through his legacy we want to continue to celebrate Africa’s journalistic excellence,” she states.

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. They will be given the opportunity 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.

Previous winners are:

• Paa Kwesi Asare (2023)
• Dingindaba Jonah Buyoya (2022)
• Victoria Rubadiri (2020)
• Solomon Serwanjja (2019)
• Waihiga Mwaura (2018)
• Amina Yuguda (2017)
• Didi Akinyelure (2016)
• Nancy Kacungira (2015)

Judges on this year’s panel are:

• Ehizojie Okharedia, Senior News Editor, BBC World Service
• Magnus McGrandle, Senior News Editor, BBC News Channels
• Lydia Namubiru, Editor-in-Chief, The Continent

Applications close at 23.59 GMT on 15 March 2024.

For more information about the award, including how to apply, entry criteria, and terms and conditions, click here.