The International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) and the Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (FSCIRE), an Italian research institute focused on religious studies, are launching a new award for religion reporting, the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award. The new prize will honor the work of journalists in newspapers, magazines or news websites that publish regularly in Europe, including Iceland and Russia, and the countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has alerted the world to the arrest of journalist Erick Kabendera, who is an active member of The Association of Religion Journalists. Erick is known for promoting best practices in journalism around the world. Our IARJ board encourages CPJ efforts to ensure that Erick is safe and will be freed unharmed. In this article, we share more about Erick and also provide information from CPJ—and links to their coverage.

BOLOGNA, Italy, March 3, 2019—The International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) and the Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (FSCIRE), an Italian research institute focused on religious studies, have joined forces to launch a new award for religion reporting, the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award.

Nigerian journalist Odinga Adiwu writes about the role journalists who specialize in reporting on religion can play in the overall search for peace in the midst of the world’s diversity. The journalist’s goal of reporting fair, accurate and balanced accounts ultimately can help to break down dangerous stereotypes and work against the rise of hate speech in the world.

The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) is accepting applications for its new Women’s Edition-Africa program, which brings together 10 to 12 senior-level women journalists from low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa to examine important topics related to women’s health and development.

In this interview in our Journalism Spotlight series, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s Albert Ken Dapatem talks about the challenges of covering religion in such a diverse nation. He also talks about the rise of Pentecostalism in his region of Africa and discusses the challenges he faces between his personal and professional roles in religion and spirituality.

Atsoutse Tossou is a researcher with a special interest in religion in today’s world. Originally from Togo in West Africa, Atsoutse Tossou is co-founder of the Africa and Religions project. Initiated by students from various African universities, the project aims to provide legal and sociological information on religion in Africa. In this interview he describes his project and share ideas on how journalists and scholars can work together for excellence in religion journalism.

IARJ Co-managing Director Larbi Megari reports on the Africa-wide conference for journalists and scholars recently held in Ghana, including some of the emerging challenges: How to connect more effectively with scholars studying religious trends; how to deal with forces that seem to work against accurate coverage of religious diversity; and the challenge of finding more effective professional networks with colleagues.

International Association of Religion Journalists founding member Prince Charles Dickson shares the wide range of topics discussed at the IARJ conference in Ghana, highlighting the great complexity of covering religion in Africa. From trying to cover religious extremism to trying to balance government involvement in religion, or lack of government interest in religion, the professional challenges are enormous, Dickson argues.

IARJ Co-managing Director and Web Editor Elisa Di Benedetto shares her perspective on this year’s conference in Ghana, including a key insight: While everyone who attended was aware of Africa’s religious diversity, the conference also illustrated a diversity in approaches to journalism by reporters across the continent.