PUNCH journalist Abiodun Adewale has been named among the recipients of the 2026 Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards, alongside Nigerian freelance journalist Rakiya Muhammad and Kenya journalist Angeline Ochieng.
Organised by the International Centre for Journalists in partnership with Wikimedia Foundation, the awards celebrate the role journalists play in creating well-researched articles that can serve as reliable source material for Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia.
Muhammad claimed the first prize for her report, “West Africa’s Borderless Women: Inside the Yoruba Sisterhood Linking Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire,” published in RM Times.
The story documented the decades-long migration of women from Ejigbo, Osun State, to Ivory Coast, where they have become a major force in Abidjan’s markets while strengthening economic and cultural ties between both countries. According to the report, remittances from the migrants account for as much as 80 per cent of Ejigbo’s economy.
Adewale was recognised in second place for his special feature, “Breaking boundaries: How Nigeria’s U-19 women are rewriting cricket history.”
