Isu Elihle Awards for child-centred journalism (Africa)

Deadline: 13 May 2022

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) is excited to officially open the applications for the 2021 lsu Elihle Awards. Journalists within the African continent are invited to apply for these Awards which open [on] (01 April 2022) and close on the 13th of May 2022. MMA is also proud to announce the continuation of its partnership with UNICEF for this years awards. This partnership has surely helped us enhance and enrich the awards to better heights.


“Isu Elihle” is an isiZulu phrase and could be translated into English as a beautiful, great or simply a neat solution. The Isu Elihle Awards were launched in 2016 by MMA with the support of Save the Children
International, the Swedish International Development Agency and Media Network on Child Rights Development (MNCRD) based in Zambia. The awards seek to contribute to a change in attitudes and behaviors of opinion and decision-makers and citizens across the country and continent from the premise that the media frames debates in society and carries enormous influence and, therefore, ability to drive positive change. This year marks six years since these Awards were launched.


These Awards aim to encourage journalists to highlight issues that are faced by children in the continent. Journalists from more than twenty countries have applied in the previous years and diverse issues about children have been raised. This shows that these awards have gained a lot of traction within the continent. We encourage journalist to submit their unique story ideas within the started time frame.


MMA’s awards seek to give children a voice and highlight the status of children in our continent. Journalists are encouraged to submit their story ideas and these can be targeted at any mainstream news medium such as TV, Radio or Online. The top six story ideas will then be selected during an online Awards ceremony in June. 

Journalists behind these ideas will each receive guaranteed financial support of ZAR 10 000. MMA will also offer support to the finalists to develop their concepts. The final stories will be ranked and the final cash prizes will be awarded.

For further information, please contact:

Girlie Sibanda, Media Monitoring Africa, Tel: +27 011 7881278, [email protected]

For more details, terms and conditions as well as the Application Form visit the Isu Elihle Award’s website www.isuelihle.org!

About the awards:

Awards information: https://isuelihle.org.za/competition-info/