Sierra Leonean journalist Patricia Ngevao has been named among the final 12 for the 2026 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award.
Ngevao, who reports for Awoko Newspaper, was shortlisted for her story on how farmer–herder conflicts are affecting children in northern Sierra Leone. Thomson Foundation highlighted the report for showing how the ongoing conflicts are disrupting childhoods. Thomson Foundation
The competition received entries from 217 journalists across 56 countries. Ngevao said she was grateful to see her name among the finalists and described being Sierra Leone’s only representative on the shortlist as especially meaningful in a male-dominated media landscape.
She thanked the Moving Minds Alliance and its Reporters for Early Childhood in Humanitarian Crisis initiative for supporting her work on the story. She also thanked Awoko Newspaper for giving her the space to report it, along with readers and colleagues who have supported her journalism.
“For now, I’m just taking in the moment and saying thank you,” Ngevao wrote. “Whatever comes next, I’m grateful to have made it this far.”
The award is run by Thomson Foundation in partnership with the UK’s Foreign Press Association. The winner is expected to be announced at the association’s awards ceremony in London in November.
