Draft:Kunle Falayi

Kunle Falayi is a Nigerian award-winning investigative and data journalist with The Arizona Republic. He previously worked with Nigerian newspaper The Punch and later BBC Africa as an investigative journalist and business reporter.

Education
Falayi obtained a Bachelor's Degree in English & Literary Studies, in 2008, from the University of Ado Ekiti, now Ekiti State University. In 2012, he began studying at the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, qualifying for a professional Diploma in 2013. He received a Master's degree in industrial & Labour Relations from the University of Lagos, in 2015. In 2021, Kunle Falayi received a fully funded scholarship to Columbia University, where he studied from 2021 to 2022, receiving a Master of Science in Data Journalism. He attended the Thomson Foundation in London, in 2014. There he trained in a 4-week Digital and Multi-media Communication course.

Career
Kunle Falayi began his journalism journey as a young member of the National Youth Service Corp, NYSC, with a Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria station, Harmony FM, Idofian, Kwara State, Western Nigeria, as a News Editor. He had a brief stint with Uniq FM, another radio station, in Ilesa, Osun State. There he worked as a Newscaster and Duty Continuity Announcer. He made a major move to the Punch Newspaper, in March 2011, and reported for Saturday Punch. for over 7 years, covering various beats and reporting many human angle stories. He moved to the BBC Africa in 2018, working as a Broadcast Journalist covering  Business at the West Africa Bureau. While at the BBC, he also did various reports, including the BBC Africa Eye documentary, Inside Nigeria's Kidnap Crisis during which he was embedded into the Anti-kidnapping team, then led by Police Officer Aba Kyari to cover the team's operation. Currently, Falayi works with The Arizona Republic, a part of Gannett USA Today Network. he is a Data and housing insecurity reporter. During his training at the Thomson Foundation in London, he had a brief attachment with The Telegraph, where he worked with the online education desk.

Awards
In 2014, Falayi emerged overall winner in the Promasidor Quill Awards, held in Lagos, after winning in three categories: Best Report on Water and Sanitation [Rotary Humanitarian Reporting Award], Education Reporter of The Year [Rotary Humanitarian Reporting Award], and Co-winner, Best Report On Children. In 2017, he received the continental Zimeo Excellence in Media Awards, by the Africa Media Initiative, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He won in the Urban Development Reporting category. with the story That Bottled Water May Quench Your Thirst Or Kill You. In 2018 he won in the Agriculture Reporting category at the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence [DAME] with the entry "Rice farmers bemoan fate as 38 million hectares of land waste away". He was second runner-up at the 2015 Nigerian Academy of Science Award, in the Science Reporter of The Year category.