A former managing editor of Sahara Reporters, Eric Dumo, has been shortlisted for the True Story Award, a global journalism prize now in its third year.
Dumo was selected for his investigative report on the porous state of Nigeria’s topflight football league titled ‘The Circus of Death’.
The nominated work exposed the rot in Nigeria’s premier soccer division, which was once one of the most organised in the world.
Plagued by corruption and mismanagement, Dumo’s story exposed how professional soccer players in Nigeria’s topflight division risked death from treatable infections like Tetanus and career-ending injuries each time they filed onto the pitch for a league match.
The report also exposed how some of Nigeria’s most promising talents have continued to die on the soccer pitch for lack of basic items like first aid kits and emergency structures like ambulances at match venues.
Dumo’s story, a sad and disturbing reminder of what Nigeria’s football league had become in recent years as a result of corruption and mismanagement, was among the 94 reports shortlisted for the prestigious award from a total of 900 entries from 95 countries.
“A total of 94 texts made it onto a shortlist. The jury assessed relevance, research intensity, text design, journalistic truthfulness and impact.
“The contents of these reports reflect current world events. They not only paint a multi-layered picture of recent events, they offer the reader some unexpected insights. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the authors manage to discern moments of hope and confidence in crisis-ridden times,” the organisers said in a statement.
The grand ceremony of the award will take place on June 23, 2023 in Bern, Switzerland, where three winners will be announced.
Dumo, a prolific features writer with over 12 major journalism awards to his credit, has worked with some of Nigeria’s leading news publications including TheWeek, Scroll, SUN and PUNCH over the years.
In October 2018, he was one of 23 international journalists selected by the United States Department of State to cover the mid-term elections in California and Nevada. He has equally attended several capacity building training within and outside Nigeria in the course of his over 16 years as a journalist.
In recent times, he has become a regular contributor for scidev.net – a United Kingdom-based publication – and GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative) based in Switzerland. Dumo also mentors and teaches emerging journalists how to build successful careers at various media workshops.
In March 2022, he won a scholarship to study journalism masters at the prestigious Columbia University in New York, United States.
