NAB XVIII 2019

Bengelstorff has been living in Nairobi,
Kenya, for more than ten years and
reports from there as a freelance journalist
for primarily German-language
media. She is particularly interested in
topics and trends underrepresented in
the media. The BIGSAS Journalist Award
has set itself the goal of showing Africa
from a different perspective, thus counteracting
common media images. In
this regard, says Bengelstorff, balanced
reporting is particularly important: “To
show the versatility and complexity of
a topic, to meet the media users where
they are, and if they are stuck in a stereotype
about Africa, then this should be
taken up and informed (by the way, this
also applies the other way around). Wars
and diseases are facts; there is no point
in pretending they do not exist. People
who suffer under such circumstances
have every right to be written about and
read about.” For her, the context makes
the big difference. And in the future? “I
would like to focus more on the consequences
of climate change in Africa. This
is THE big issue for the continent as well.
And there is so much to be found and
told about it!” In addition to journalism,
Bengelstorff works in the DAAD office in
Nairobi and supports young academics
on their way to a doctorate in Germany.
Second prize for Katharina Wecker
The second prize went to Katharina
Wecker for her contribution Südsudan:
Wie Susana als erste Basketballtrainerin
ihr Land verändern will (South Sudan:
How Susana wants to be the first female
basketball coach who changes her country,
published in the online magazine ze.tt).
She portrays a young woman becoming
an activist in spaces that at first glance do
not seem particularly political. “If people
say I can’t do it, I’ll prove to them that
I can” – words of the ambitious Susana,
who trains an all-male basketball team in
South Sudan. There is more than just winning
a cup behind her desire to perform.
Susana positions herself as a strongwilled
woman in a patriarchal society and
becomes a role model through her rebellion
against traditional structures. Although
South Sudan is known worldwide
for its basketball players, women are a
rarity in the sport. The 25-year-old coach
would therefore like to train more female
players as coaches and thereby change her
country in the long term.
Wecker has been writing and filming as
a freelance journalist on the topics of
climate change, women, society, and development
since 2015. She has worked
in the United Kingdom and Colombia.
Although Wecker wrote her master’s thesis
on start-ups in Uganda, she visited
Africa for the first time with a research
grant from the International Women’s
Media Foundation. And that is how this
article about Susana came about: “I especially
wanted to report on the situation
of young people in South Sudan, some
of whom have spent a large part of their
lives in war, refugee camps, or exile. Before
the trip, I had already made contact
with a health activist and a designer.
Samir Bol, one of the local journalists,
then said I should definitely also meet the
basketball player and coach Susana, about
whom half the city is talking.”
Wecker also spoke about why it was so
important to tell the story of Susana:
“Traditional gender roles prevail, especially
in rural areas. In some parts of
South Sudan, according to the United
Nations, three out of four girls do not go
to school, more than in almost any other
country. This is mainly due to the civil
war, which has been raging almost nonstop
since the end of 2013. Another factor
is that families place less emphasis on
education for girls than for boys, and girls
are married early. South Sudan has one
of the highest rates of child marriages in
the world. But in the capital, Juba, there
are more and more women and men who
are discounting traditional gender roles.
I have met impressive women artists, political
activists, and sportswomen who
do not conform to common stereotypes.
Unfortunately, far too little is reported
about them.”
Both articles contribute to high-quality,
thoroughly researched, and balanced
journalism on Africa. The award winners
break with well-known stereotypes and
distance themselves from sensationalistic
writing. They show that journalism on
Africa requires investment: it takes time,
will, and passion to write carefully, realistically,
and in a balanced way.
Special acknowledgement
for MUTmagazin
On the occasion of its fifth anniversary,
the BIGSAS Journalist Award acknowledged
MUTmagazin for their special issue
titled Afrika anders: Reportagen aus
einem unterschätzten Kontinent (A differ-
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