WCJ health reporting grantee Brygettes Ngana takes runner-up prize at Voices of Impact Awards

Kenyan journalist Brygettes Ngana’s powerful story on how USAID funding cuts have severely impacted HIV treatment centres across the country took second place at the recent Voices of Impact Awards.

Ngana was one of 24 recipients of a Wits Centre for Journalism (WCJ)  investigative health reporting grant in 2025. This funding, along with support from Nation Media Group, enabled her team to travel to western Kenya to paint a vivid picture of the situation and speak with people directly impacted by funding cuts, where HIV services at public hospitals had once been fully funded by USAID.

“The recognition of our work at the Voices of Impact Awards is testament to the great work that the Wits Centre for Journalism does in empowering African storytellers like myself to tell African stories form an African perspective,” said Ngana.

Read the full story here.

Registrations open for 2026 SACOMM conference at Wits University

Registrations for the 2026 South African Communications Association conference are now open. This year's event will be hosted by the Wits Centre for Journalism at Wits University in Johannesburg from 9 to 11 September, and expects to draw journalism, media and communications scholars and educators from around southern Africa.

A pre-conference programme for emerging scholars will take place on 8 September.

Follow this link for more information and to secure your ticket. 

Digimethods Post-SACOMM workshop 2026

On Saturday 12 September 2026, the Wits Centre for Journalism will host a workshop examining digital and computational tools for researching the media. The workshop, a post-SACOMM conference event, is limited to 20 participants. No prior skills are needed. 

The workshop will be facilitated by Dr Alette Schoon of Rhodes University, who will run through hands-on demonstrations in which participants can try tools such as data visualisation, data scraping, vibe coding, network graphs and more. You will need to bring your own laptop.

Click here to secure your ticket. 

Early bird registrations open for 2026 African Investigative Journalism Conference

Now in its 22nd year, the African Investigative Journalism Conference, hosted and organised by the Wits Centre for Journalism, returns for another packed edition featuring the brightest minds in investigative journalism from Africa and around the world.

Early bird tickets are now available at R3,700 per person, valid until 1 August 2026. Thereafter the standard ticket price of R4,700 will apply, which includes full access to the three-day programme and lunches (including coffee/tea), as well as access to the African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award formal gala dinner on 11 November.   

Join us for three days of lectures, masterclasses, story showcases and networking from 10 to 12 November at the Edge Convention Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

Click here to secure your tickets.

Entries open for 4th annual African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award

All African journalists can now submit entries for the prestigious 2026 African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award, an initiative of the Wits Centre for Journalism and annual African Investigative Journalism Conference.

The award, supported by Absa, recognises outstanding examples of investigative reporting from Africa that reveal untold stories, hold the powerful to account, question those in public life and serve the public interest. 

The award is open to all African journalists or teams of journalists working in any media for stories from and about Africa, published or broadcast in African media between 1 July 2025 and 1 July 2026.

Click here for details and see how to submit your work.

Content creation workshop with Dan Corder open to all enrolled Wits students

Do you have a compelling story to tell about Johannesburg but haven’t figured out how to tell it just yet? Does the thought of hooks, a script and editing put you off? Well, we might have something to remedy that.

The Wits Centre for Journalism is partnering with Dan Corder to run a free three-day content creation workshop for enrolled Wits University students from 22 to 24 July 2026. You can be from any faculty, any year, with little to no technical skills – just a unique story about our city.

To apply for one of 24 spots, fill in this Google Form giving us more details on your story.

Applications close on 10 July.

Further your studies with the Wits Centre for Journalism in 2027

Looking to further your journalism and media studies in 2027? Apply now for the Wits Centre for Journalism’s postgraduate honours, master's and PhD programmes at the University of the Witwatersrand, open to aspiring and working journalists, communicators and media professionals. Working closely with the industry and independent experts, the WCJ's full- and part-time courses deliver a rich blend of theoretical and practical engagement.

The part-time honours programme also offers a Recognition of Prior Learning pathway for applicants who don't have a bachelor's degree but have substantial journalism or communications experience.

Deadline: 30 September 2026.

Queries: [email protected] 

Click here for more information.

Webinar recording – Under Duress: Journalism in Authoritarian Contexts

On 25 May, the Wits Centre for Journalism hosted Dr Richard Stupart for a webinar discussing a new report about journalism in authoritarian contexts.

Stupart, a British Academy Research Fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and lecturer at the University of Liverpool, presented the findings from a closed-door roundtable in which 17 journalists from seven African countries facing severe press freedom challenges reflected on and compared their experiences.

Watch the full recording here.

Download the report here.

• Women and non-binary journalists worldwide can now apply for IWMF’s 2026 Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism. This grant provides selected journalists with funding to develop a critical piece of long-form journalism. Deadline: 12 July. Click here for details.

• Tarbell invites experienced journalists to apply for its next round of grants to support original reporting on AI and its societal impacts. Successful applicants will receive grants up to US$20,000. Deadline: 12 July. Click here for details.

• African journalists looking to collaborate on cross-border investigations with journalists or news outlets in Europe are eligible for a Journalism Fund EU environmental investigative journalism grant. Deadline: 6 August. Click here for details.