BONews Service has been honoured with the Excellence in Inclusive Coverage & Reportage award at the 2025 edition of the ReportHer Awards, organised by Women Radio 91.7 in partnership with Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and supported by Ford Foundation.
The ReportHer award celebrates media outlets that demonstrate outstanding commitment to representing women’s voices, covering gender-related issues seriously, and producing inclusive, justice-oriented journalism.
Out of 72 entries from media houses across Nigeria, spanning print, digital, radio and broadcast, BONews Service emerged as the first runner-up in the Gender Based Violence Reporting Category and the winner in the Inclusive Coverage and Reportage category.
The Inclusive Coverage and Reportage award recognises balanced, fair and nuanced media coverage that promotes gender equality and inclusion.
The organisers announced that BONews Service emerged as the overall winner “for its consistent and deliberate editorial focus on women’s issues, gender equality, disability inclusion and social justice.”
While receiving the award on behalf of BONews Service, the Publisher, Blessing Oladunjoye, said, “this recognition is a powerful reminder of why we do this work — to amplify the voices of women, girls, especially those with disabilities, whose stories are often overlooked or misrepresented in mainstream media.”
She expressed her gratitude to the organisers of the award and “to the women, adolescent girls, and persons with disabilities who trust us with their experiences and allow us to bring their realities into national conversations.”
She emphasised that the award is not just a celebration, but a challenge to continue using journalism as a tool for inclusion, accountability and social impact.
The entries were independently reviewed by the board of judges, which included Ene Ede, Founding Director, Equity Advocates; Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director of the International Press Centre; and Chinenye Priscilla Asaemena, Communication Strategist and Social Development Advocate.
Speaking on behalf of the judges, Lanre Arogundade explained that the judges reviewed diligently all the entries and “we looked at the diversity of these stories in terms of the various sources that were consulted, the different dimensions that they looked at, not just in terms of looking at women as victims, but even looking at the legal environment, looking at other factors, including the situation of women in the IDPs and the rest of them.”