New podcasts, new funding, awards nominations and a million hits: here are some highlights this week from the South African Media Innovation Program.

Youth developing through Covid-19 podcasting

Children’s Radio Foundation, an organisation using radio to create opportunities for dialogue, leadership, advocacy, and community building among youth, received a Population Services International grant towards podcasting on Covid-19 in Africa over the next six months.

Coronavirus dashboard reaches one million views

This week Media Hack Collective’s Coronavirus dashboard reached one million views since its launch in March 2020. As Media Hack continues to update their dashboard with the latest coronavirus numbers, South Africa has conducted over one million tests, confirmed cases have reached over 58,000 and the death toll is at 1284.

News from the frontline podcast by Volume and Tekano

Volume in partnership with Tekano launched a new podcast: News From The Frontline, focusing on putting health equity in Covid-19 on the agenda and amplifying the work of Tekano’s Fellows and other organizations at a local community level. Episode 1 focused on sex workers in South Africa, and their struggle to enforce their rights because sex work is criminalized.

Award nomination for Yusuf Omar

Yusuf Omar, co-founder of Hashtag Our Stories, has been nominated for the One Young World Journalist of the Year award. He is one of the fifteen young journalists across the world shortlisted because for impact they’ve made to the field of journalism. Five winners will be announced in mid-June and will be presented with the award at the One Young World Summit in 2021.

Daily Vox profiles solidarity funds for man killed in lockdown

This week, The Daily Vox profiled two fundraising campaigns set up for Collin Khosa, who died after soldiers assaulted him in his home during South Africa’s lockdown. In keeping with The Daily Vox’s roots in solidarity and social justice, it was the youth outlet’s top-performing article this week.

Food for Mzansi speaks to Edward Kgarose

In the latest edition of Farmer’s Inside Track, Food for Mzansi’s weekly podcast, the digital agriculture news organisation catches up with trendsetter Edward Kgarose, a Limpopo-based entrepreneur who invented a sweet potato drinking yoghurt.