Former Citizen TV reporter Enock Sikolia won Ksh 250,000 after an exposé he did emerged top in the Netfund Green Innovation Awards 2020.
The fourth phase of the awards was held at Emara Ole Sereni Nairobi, where Sikolia’s feature Garbage Rivers was picked as the winner in the journalists' category.
Journalist Wanjohi Kabukuru was second and won Ksh 200,000 for his powerful and informative stories around climate change.
The environmental awards, which were established in 2014, seek to enhance public awareness on climate change and environmental education.
The award targets individuals, community forest associations, water resource users associations, community-based organisations, women groups, youth groups, primary and secondary schools, tertiary institutions, counties, journalists and micro, small and medium enterprises.
Sikolia's story exposed how millions of Kenyans living in Nairobi faced health risk emanating from polluted rivers.
According to scientists, the Nairobi River has levels of lead, copper, chromium, zinc and manganese far beyond those allowed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority.
The feature which was aired on Citizen TV in 2019 also won him an award at the Annual Journalism Excellence Awards (AJEA) that year.
Other awards on his belt include the 2015 CNN Multichoice African Journalist of the year award and the 2020 Presidential Order of Service Award.
The reporter who moved to CTGN Africa in August 2020 has cemented his place as one of the best environmental journalists in Kenya, despite having worked as a bone marrow analyst at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
His media career started at NTV where he rose to become a senior reporter in 2017 after covering Kenya’s 2013 & 2017 and Tanzania’s 2015 general elections.
After that Sikolia delved into in-depth and investigative stories on governance, health, environment and wildlife.
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