Africa News Challenge winners announced

We’re happy to announce the winners of our first-ever World News News Challenge, which asked students around the world a simple but ultimately complex question: “What do you want to know about Africa that the media isn’t already telling you?”

Students submitted their questions during the month of February to GSS via Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and email. Their questions were captured in an interactive map designed by GSS editor Jordan Tichenor.

Judges for the Africa News Challenge included Dickens Olewe, web editor for The Star in Nairobi, Kenya, Akoto Ofori-Atta, a former editor for The Root and Essence magazine, GSS Executive Director Beatrice Motamedi, and GSS Editors-in-Chief Simon Greenhill and Casey Miller.

Olewe, Ofori-Atta and Motamedi are 2014-15 John S. Knight Fellows at Stanford.

In the video category, there was a tie between Mikayla Llewellyn, a student at Campolindo High School in Moraga, California, and Tahjee Ali, who attends Eastside College Preparatory Academy in East Palo Alto, California.

Llewellyn submitted a video that asked a short but provocative question: “Are there many genres of African music?”

That struck a chord with Olewe, who observed that “Africa’s cultural diversity is expressed in language, religion, food and music. Whoever explores one, inevitably finds the rest.”

“This is a fantastic pitch which could open up an amazing journey through Africa’s cultural heritage,” Olewe added. “I like it because it’s a journey of curiosity rather than one to affirm (or) debunk a stereotype.”

From East Palo Alto, Ali sent in a video that observed that “black is beautiful” in America. “What is the depiction of beauty in Africa?” she asked.

Motamedi said that this question also could be the springboard for an intriguing story.

“I really like the idea of looking for authentic African examples of beauty, instead of assuming that what is beautiful in African American society here in the U.S. would be the same for Africa with all of its countries and cultures,” said Motamedi.

“I hope Tahjee pursues that story — it’s just the kind of piece we’d love to publish at Global Student Square.”

In the photo category, five students from Oakland International High School in Oakland, California, won for a group photo raising questions about poverty, Ebola, and the perception of Africa as a Third World continent.

OIHS, part of the Oakland Unified School District, serves recently-arrived immigrant students and their families, including many who are fleeing conflict in their home countries.

From left to right in the winning photo above, students and their countries of origin were Dominic Pablo Ahilon (originally from Guatemala); Ahmed Salim (Yemen and Saudi Arabia); Roberto Martinez (El Salvador); and Silvia Esteban Ixcoy (Guatemala). In the front row is Melhik Hailu (Ethiopia).

“Oakland International High School is a place where the world comes to study,” said Motamedi. “These students already know a lot about global issues, and their questions show that we’re more interconnected than we sometimes realize.”

Finally, in the social media category, Eastside College Preparatory Academy junior Liz Perez won for a tweet that asked about the prevalence of child marriage.

“I love this question because too often, when we talk about child brides, we talk about the circumstances surrounding the practice,” observed judge Ofori-Atta, whose family is originally from Ghana. “But this question puts the subject smack in the center — only someone who has been or is a child bride can answer it.

“(It) gives us an opportunity to humanize the issue,” Ofori-Atta wrote.

Ofori-Atta suggested that Perez develop her story by “working on the specificities.”

“Do some research on the countries and the ethnic tribes in which this practice is most prevalent,” Ofori-Atta suggested. “Check out the International Center for Research on Women to get more info and see if they can point you to some advocates that might be willing to help you find your interviewee.”

Llewellyn, Ali and Perez will each receive $100 gift certificates to amazon.com. The five Oakland International High School students in the winning photo will each win $25 gift certificates plus an additional $100 gift certificate for their class and teacher, Mallory Moser.

Students who want to continue learning and exploring African culture may be interested in two TED talks that Olewe suggested as a way to learn more about Africa as a continent and as a collection of stories.

The TED talks are:

• “The danger of a single story,” by Chimamanda Adichie. “She’s a fantastic author and her recent book, “Americanah,” is a gem,” Olewe said.
• “Telling the African Story” by Komla Diumor. “Komla died suddenly last year after a heart attack,” Olewe observed, adding, “he was one of Africa’s finest journalists.”

Thank you to all of the students who submitted questions to the news challenge. We’d love to see stories on the topics you raised. Please click on these links to submit a story, a photo or video, or to comment on our coverage.