Former Citizen TV reporter Raquel Muigai was among the winners of the KAS Media Africa Award for local journalism, a competition dedicated to promoting free and independent media.
Raquel, who currently plies her trade with African Uncensored, was recognized for her feature titled “Scars of the Vote” which aired in May 2022 to highlight the plight of the victims of Post Election chaos in 2017 and 2007.
In the feature, Raquel featured some of the survivors from both post-poll brutalities most of who were slum dwellers in the suburbs of Nairobi.
KAS Media announced the results on Tuesday, February 1, to mark the climax of the competition that featured 190 stories from different countries in Africa.
"Out of over 190 submissions and 12 finalists, it is our pleasure to announce that the winners of the inaugural KAS Media Africa Award for Local Journalism are: Raquel Muigai from Africa Uncensored, Kenya, for "Scars of the Vote", the South African-based entity announced.
Speaking after she was announced as a winner, Raquel welcomed her recognition noting that she was humbled and felt honoured.
However, she acknowledged that the success of the story was a product of the teamwork and cooperation of her entire crew back in her days at the Royal Media Services-owned outlet. She expressed her gratitude to the team for the contribution towards the success of the feature.
"My name has been selected as the winner but the story was a product of the collaboration of my entire team from the shooting, editing and scripts," she stated.
Regarding the impact of her story, Raquel noted that it was heartbreaking to work on such projects and interact with poll victims up close. Their stories, she stated, were a reminder to all Kenyans of the essence of peace before and after a general election.
Buoyed by her recognition, Raquel affirmed that she was looking forward to addressing more vices in society through investigative and feature pieces.
She parted ways with Citizen TV in June 2022 after a four-year stint to join John Allan Namu's investigative media outlet.
Before joining Citizen TV, Raquel honed her skills at KTN News where she was a features reporter. In December 2022, she bagged the SDG Media Award for her role in promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Kenya.
In June 2022, Raquel Muigai and Agnes Oloo won the African Climate Change and Reporting (ACCER) Award.
