ajea

1. Agriculture and Food Security

This award goes to journalists whose stories demonstrate a deep understanding of agriculture and food security. This includes nutrition and access to food, key issues such as food safety, policies, research, innovations, improving agricultural productivity, market dynamics, climate change and access to inputs.

2. Best Civic Education Programme

This award goes to a media house for its exemplary civic education programme(s) that advance public understanding of democratic institutions and civic participation through compelling journalistic content, including multimedia storytelling, explanatory reporting, and community audience engagement. It demonstrates exceptional clarity, impact, and commitment to informing and empowering citizens. The entry must have at least two (2) submissions of aired audio or audio-visual content.

3. Best Entertainment Programme

This award goes to a media house for an exceptional entertainment programme that combines creativity, originality, and cultural relevance to captivate audiences while reflecting contemporary social themes, demonstrating excellence in storytelling, production quality, and audience engagement, and affirming the power of entertainment media to inform, inspire, unite the public and contribute meaningfully to public discourse. The entry must have at least two (2) submissions of aired audio or audio-visual content or a short series.

4. Best Follow-Up Reporting

This award goes to journalists who return to a previously reported story of public importance or significance to examine new developments, unresolved issues, or lasting impact, demonstrating persistence, accountability, and public-interest value.

5. Best Investigative Reporting

This award goes to journalists whose public interest stories go beyond the ordinary, are well researched, demonstrate originality, and are impactful. The winning entries will demonstrate evidence of investigative techniques, overcoming obstacles, and sparking official action, or meaningful public debate in Kenya.

6. Best Primetime Production

This award goes to a media house which creatively produces television news shows or features with a demonstrated impact on a public interest matter. The award recognizes research, story development, interviews, production technique, use of music, captivating use of image, sound and effects, and postproduction that go into the making of an effective and engaging audio-visual production. The entry must have at least two (2) submissions of aired audio-visual content from different events or stories.

7. Best Radio Production

This award goes to a media house which creatively produces radio news shows or features with a demonstrated impact on a public interest matter. The award recognizes research, story development, interviews, production techniques, use of music and effects, and postproduction that go into the making of an effective and engaging audio production. Such sound and interviews should tell the story and depict the context and perspective of the events captured. The entry must have at least two (2) submissions of aired audio content from different events or a stories.

8. Digital Economy and Innovation Reporting

This award goes to journalists with outstanding stories on technological advancement, innovations and creative use of information, communication and technological applications.

9. Environmental Restoration, Blue Economy and Climate Change Reporting

This award goes to journalists whose stories demonstrate in-depth knowledge on new developments in environmental conservation, marine economy, climate change and their impact on human activities.

10. Financial and Business Reporting

This award goes to journalists whose exemplary reporting uncovers, analyzes and explains financial systems, business practices and economic policies. Through rigorous and insightful journalism, the story will have highlighted the opportunities, challenges, and policy implications within the Creative and Cultural Economy, the MSME sector, and value-addition across industries in Kenya as envisioned in the national agenda.

11. Gender and Inclusivity Reporting

This award goes to journalists whose stories demonstrate an understanding of issues that seek to promote gender equity, equality, and gender empowerment. The stories demonstrate structural inequities and elevate the experiences of the ageing population, marginalized genders and communities, combining evidence, courageous storytelling, and nuanced analysis, as well as exposing discriminatory systems, amplification of silenced voices, and advances public understanding of gender justice and inclusive social policy. The stories’ impact resonate nationally, prompting dialogue, accountability, and meaningful shifts in the pursuit of dignity and equal opportunity for all.

12. Governance and Development Reporting

This award goes to journalists whose stories had an impact on, or contributed to the country’s sustainable development, promotion of national values and principles of governance, and the fight against corruption. Stories in this category include preservation of human rights, population issues as well as migration, urbanisation, housing and infrastructure development, and the extractive industry, arts and culture, poverty alleviation, civic engagement, education, government policies and political processes, and compensation for violated individuals or communities among others.

13. Health Reporting

This award goes to journalists whose interpretative health stories go beyond medical terms to inform and empower the public on health and medical issues, including emerging sector challenges, health costs, mental health disorders and wellness, disease prevention and healthy lifestyle adoption.

14. Illustrator of the Year

This award goes to journalists and content creators whose work displays artistic creativity and presentation through animations, cartoons, graphics and illustrations. Such illustrations should depict a public interest issue in context and perspective of the events captured. Illustrators must submit at least six (6) published illustrations capturing different events or public issues.

15. Media Freedom Warrior Award

This award goes to journalists whose stories are about the media and which critically examine policy, working conditions and environment, mental well-being, newsroom practices, media viability and sustainability. This category will also recognize a person(s), institution (public or private), or media house nominated for their contribution to press freedom and state of the media in Kenya. Journalists, Editors and media stakeholders can nominate individuals and institutions backed by evidence (actions, activities, media articles, etc) of their work on press freedom and state of the media.

16. Most Impactful Editorial Opinion

This award goes to a mediahouse for a powerful and persuasive editorial opinion that demonstrates exceptional clarity of argument, moral authority, journalistic integrity and combines rigorous analysis with compelling prose to shape national conversation, challenge entrenched power, and advance democratic values through fearless and impactful commentary.

17. Most Listened to Bulletin

This award goes to a broadcaster for a consistently authoritative radio news bulletin that earned exceptional public trust and audience reach through accurate, timely, and compelling reporting, delivering clear and balanced coverage of issues of public importance while setting a benchmark for broadcast journalism excellence.

18. Most Read Newspaper

This award goes to a publication for its sustained journalistic excellence that attracted the widest readership, combining accurate, authoritative content, investigative depth, explanatory clarity, and compelling storytelling to inform and engage audiences, earning broad public trust while shaping national conversation and advancing the public interest across print publications.

19. Most Read Online News Platform

This award goes to an online media platform which has demonstrated sustained excellence in digital journalism that attracted the widest online audience, combining editorial rigor, technological innovation, and compelling multimedia storytelling delivering accurate, timely, and impactful journalistic content to inform and engage the public and shape the national conversation.

20. Photojournalist of the Year

This award goes to photographers who record fascinating images that engage audiences. Such images should tell the story and depict the context and perspective of the events captured. Photographers must submit at least six (6) published photographs from different events or a story sequence.

21. Podcast of the Year

This award goes to journalists whose digital audio or audio-visual file is outstanding in discussing a pertinent public issue, presented on an online platform. The podcast should be have multiple sources and conform to the Code of Conduct for Media Practice. Submissions are required to follow the principles of podcasting which include clear purpose, give listeners value, be authentic and personal, and be consistent in delivery. Podcasters must submit at least four (4) digital audio, or video of different events or stories.

22. Special Category - Animal Welfare Reporting

This award goes to journalists for exemplary stories that deliver authoritative, deeply contextualized reporting on the welfare of animals. The stories draw connections between community livelihoods, veterinary systems, regulatory enforcement, as well as conservation pressures. The reporting advances national understanding of ethical animal care, fosters accountability among duty bearers in the context of emerging issues such as climate change, care for work animals, pandemics and food security in the country.

23. Special Category - Education Reporting

This award recognizes journalists who write rigorously evidenced stories on education, capturing systemic inequalities, illuminating policy and funding gaps, governance in the sector, and include lived experiences of learners, teachers and education support services. These are impactful stories in which journalists have analyzed data to tell compelling human-interest narratives, spurred national dialogue, influenced policy review processes, and expanded public understanding of what equitable, high-quality education should entail.

24. Special Category - Tourism Reporting

This award recognizes exceptional journalism that illuminates the tourism sector with depth, accuracy, and public value. The winning entries will go beyond destination promotion to demonstrate insightful, well-researched, and balanced storytelling that critically examines tourism’s impact on livelihoods, ecosystems, and national identity. The entries will show tourism’s contribution to national development, conservation of natural and cultural heritage, inform audiences, influence policy and industry practice, while elevating national and regional tourism discourse by showcasing innovation, heritage, conservation, and inclusivity.

25. Sports Reporting

This award goes to journalists whose features, documentaries or analyses portray exceptional coverage of sports events, development of sporting industry, and investigations into sporting intrigues, and sports organisations.

26. Videographer of the Year

This award goes to videographers who record captivating videos that engage audiences, and demonstrate diverse creativity in images. Such videos should tell the story and depict the context and perspective of the events captured. Videographers must submit at least two (2) videos of different events or stories.

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