WCJ to host 2026 SACOMM conference at Wits University

The Wits Centre for Journalism will host the 2026 South African Communications Association conference (SACOMM) at Wits University from 9 - 11 September.

A pre-conference programme for emerging scholars will take place on 8 September. The local organising committee is led by Dr Collen Chambwera and includes Dr Dinesh Balliah, Dr Thandi Bombi, Dr Lesley Mofokeng, Gillian Jones and Pheladi Sethusa. A call for submissions and more information about this year's theme, Asserting the Human in the Time of Technofeudalism, will be made available within the next few weeks. 

More information about SACOMM and previous conferences can be found here.

Entries are open for the WCJ's 2026 Taco Kuiper Award

South African or SA-based journalists are invited to submit their best work published or broadcast between 1 January and 31 December 2025 for this year’s Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism.

The award carries a first prize of R200,000 and a runner-up prize of R100,000, supported by the Valley Trust, and can be made to a journalist or team of journalists for a single story or a series of stories. 

Celebrating its 20th edition in 2026, the Taco Kuiper Awards recognise the very best examples of local investigative journalism that reveal untold stories and hold power to account.

Click here for details. 

#AIJC2026 call for proposals now open

The WCJ’s African Investigative Journalism Conference is now accepting session and speaker proposals for this year’s 22nd edition, taking place at the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications in Nairobi, Kenya from 10 – 12 November 2026.

To ensure the WCJ presents the most interesting, urgent work and journalists on the continent, we invite you to suggest speakers, panels, themes or training that would elevate the conference this year.

Read more here.

SANEF invites participation for 2026 glass ceiling survey

The South African National Editors' Forum invites all women journalists working in South Africa to fill out a short survey relating to glass ceilings and sexism in the country's media. Responses will be kept anonymous, and information collected will inform research to be published in book format later in the year.

Follow the link to complete the survey.

WCJ academic and research staff featured in latest edition of Literary Journalism Studies

The latest edition of Literary Journalism Studies is now available and includes contributions from Wits Centre for Journalism Research Associates Dr Lesley Cowling, Kevin Davie and Prof John Bak. Cowling and Bak were the co-editors of this edition.

WCJ sessional lecturer Dr Lesley Mofokeng also contributed with his interrogation of Sol Plaatje’s war-time diary, providing an African perspective of the Boer War. The volume captures the turn to literary journalism in the post-Apartheid period led by writers like Antony Altbeker, Jacob Dlamini and Jonny Steinberg, among others. 

Read the special edition here.

AIJC Masterclass fellow Jack McBrams’ investigation featured in GIJN top stories of 2025

The Shadow Fleet, an investigation by Malawian journalist and 2025 AIJC Masterclass fellow Jack McBrams, has been recognised by the Global Investigative Journalism Network as one of the top investigative stories from Africa in 2025.

McBrams says the investigation grew out of his participation in last year’s African Investigative Journalism Conference Masterclass, where he was able to put the mentorship he received from globally recognised journalists and trainers into practice in progressing his exposé.

“This recognition belongs as much to this community as it does to me. The reporting frameworks, data skills, peer critique, and relentless emphasis on depth and evidence that defined the masterclass directly shaped this investigation,” he says.

Read more here.

VOW 88.1 teams up with 5FM for lunchtime show on Wits campus

The VOW 88.1 team recently held a successful cross-platform content collaboration and activation with 5FM presenters and producers on the Wits Library lawns.

"The collaboration exposed VOW's younger volunteers to the workings of commercial radio and allowed them to interact with professionals in the space," says VOW programme manager Lundi Cavernelis. "We collaborated with the 5FM team on content for the lunchtime show, and took the stream onto the VOW frequency." 

The Wits Centre for Journalism recently assumed management of VOW 88.1, Wits University's community radio station, as part of a long-term project to develop its radio practice training and research projects. 

WCJ welcomes career-entry honours class of 2026

The first semester of 2026 got underway on 3 February at Wits University, with the Centre welcoming its new career-entry honours group as they set out on their academic journey led by coordinators Pheladi Sethusa and Dr Collen Chambwera. 

Wishing all WCJ students a productive and inspiring year ahead.

Visit the 2026 timetable page here for details on the academic year.

• Graduates from sub-Saharan Africa can apply for one of three Asian College of Journalism scholarships to pursue a postgraduate diploma in Business and Financial Multimedia Journalism in India (July ’26 to May ’27). Deadline: 16 February. Click here for details.

• DW Akademie is now accepting applications for its International Media Studies (IMS) programme in Bonn, Germany. Applicants from Africa are eligible for the 10 full scholarships on offer. Deadline: 15 March. Click here for details.

• Mongabay invites proposals from experienced journalists for conventional news stories, in-depth features, investigative reports, profiles, and case studies looking at issues across Africa. Click here for details.