Nigerian journalist wins top global knowledge award as Africa’s untold stories gain ground on Wikipedia

A Nigerian freelance journalist, Rakiya Muhammad, has won the first-place prize at the 2026 Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards, as global efforts intensify to address the shortage of well-documented African stories on Wikipedia and other digital knowledge platforms.

 

Muhammad received the top honour from the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Wikimedia Foundation for her feature, ‘West Africa’s Borderless Women: Inside the Yoruba Sisterhood Linking Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire’. The story highlights how generations of Yoruba women from Ejigbo in southwest Nigeria have built thriving businesses in Côte d’Ivoire, strengthening economic and cultural ties between the two West African countries.

 

According to the report, women from Ejigbo now dominate parts of Abidjan’s markets, while remittances from the community account for as much as 80 percent of the town’s local funding, demonstrating the economic importance of cross-border migration often overlooked in mainstream reporting.

The award comes as Wikipedia continues to battle a major knowledge gap about Africa. Although the online encyclopedia hosts more than 65 million articles in over 300 languages and attracts nearly 15 billion page views every month, only 3.7 percent of articles on the English-language Wikipedia are about Africa.

 

Organisers said the awards recognise journalists whose evidence-based reporting helps improve the quality and depth of information available on Wikipedia, where volunteer editors rely on credible published sources to create and expand articles.

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This year’s competition attracted 320 entries from journalists across 40 African countries, with submissions focusing on women, youth, arts, culture, heritage and sports.

Reacting to the recognition, Muhammad said the award reinforces the importance of telling stories that place African women at the centre of development and social change.

“Receiving this honour renews my passion for telling stories that place African women at the heart of the narrative as active agents of development, leadership and social change.

“The recognition rekindles my commitment to documenting positive stories about Africa with authenticity and depth, while shedding light on the gendered dimensions often overlooked in broader discussions,” she said.

Another Nigerian journalist, Abiodun Adewale of The Punch, secured second place for his report, ‘Breaking Boundaries: How Nigeria’s U-19 Women Are Rewriting Cricket History’, which documented the rise of Nigeria’s junior female cricket team ahead of the 2025 International Youth Cricket World Cup.

A special mention went to Kenya’s Angeline Ochieng of the Daily Nation for her report on former traditional birth attendants who now encourage hospital deliveries, helping reduce maternal deaths in rural Kenya.

Sharon Moshavi, ICFJ president said the awards reflect the growing relationship between journalism and Wikipedia in making reliable information more accessible worldwide.

“Journalism and Wikipedia need each other. Wikipedia’s volunteer editors rely on independent reporting to build a more complete knowledge resource, and journalists benefit from the global and multilingual reach that Wikipedia provides,” she said.

She added that the winning African journalists are helping strengthen the world’s digital information ecosystem through quality reporting.

 

Anusha Alikhan, chief communications officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, said increasing the availability of African stories is essential to making the world’s largest encyclopedia more representative.

 

“Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia ever assembled, but it is far from complete. Having stories written by Africans about the issues they care about is vital to ensuring the encyclopedia is representative of many experiences and perspectives,” she said.

Olaniyan Ishola Oulushola, president of Wikimedia Nigeria and a member of the awards selection committee, said the winning entries provide valuable source material for expanding Africa-related content on Wikipedia.

He noted that stories documenting women traders, sports achievements and community-driven health solutions help close long-standing information gaps about the continent.

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The recognition also highlights a broader shift in journalism, where carefully researched local reporting increasingly serves not only newspaper readers but also global digital knowledge platforms that millions rely on daily.

Wikipedia, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in January 2026, remains one of the world’s ten most-visited websites. Unlike most major online platforms, it is operated by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation and depends heavily on volunteer editors who can only add new information when supported by reliable published sources.

For African journalists, the awards underscore the growing global value of original reporting that documents local experiences, preserves cultural heritage and ensures the continent’s stories become part of the world’s permanent digital record.