2025 Ethel Payne Fellowship Winner Publishes Project on Sex and Sexuality in African Podcasts
Nana aba Duncan, the 2025 recipient of the NABJ Ethel Payne Fellowship, is leading an audio storytelling project on sex and sexuality in African podcasting. Through interviews and reporting across the continent, Duncan spotlights creators using podcasting to expand public dialogue on sexuality, LGBTQ+ inclusion, culture, and modern African life, showing how sound can shift stigma, spark understanding, and deepen connection.
Explore the Project (Click title to view.)
About Nana aba Duncan
Nana aba Duncan is an audio producer, journalism professor, and media entrepreneur whose work centers on challenging narratives, amplifying new perspectives, and using audio storytelling for impact. With a Master of Arts in Journalism, she began her career in Ghana as Country Director for Journalists for Human Rights, where she trained journalists in human rights reporting and led investigative projects on governance and gender-based violence. She also worked as a reporter and producer at Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and Radio Gold Ghana, covering politics, culture, and social justice, while introducing audio editing software to local journalists.
Duncan spent 15 years at CBC Radio One as a host and producer, including hosting Fresh Air, Podcast Playlist, and special programming such as How We Party Now, which explored the rise of Afrobeats in Canada. She also guest-hosted breaking news and cultural features, and contributed to CBC Radio 2 as host and producer of Radio 2 Top 20 and Big City, Small World. In 2015, she launched Media Girlfriends, which grew into Canada’s only Black-owned podcast production company led by journalists, producing award-winning projects including Strong and Free, and establishing an $84K+ scholarship fund supporting women, trans, and non-binary students in media. Now a professor, she continues to research and advocate for greater inclusion in media, with this upcoming series focused on African podcasters.
The NABJ Ethel Payne Fellowship, a $5,000 award, allows NABJ members an opportunity to gain foreign correspondence experience and the necessary assistance to complete a project or singular report. Named after Ethel Payne, a pioneering journalist and commentator, the fellowship supports meaningful storytelling that fosters understanding and connection across the African diaspora.
For more information on the fellowship or to apply for the 2026 award, visit the NABJ Ethel Payne Fellowship page.
