Two organisations hope a new award, which includes cash prizes and entry into an international corruptionr-reporting conference, will encourage Cambodian journalists to up their game in reporting on corruption issues.

The Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ) and Transparency International Cambodia (TIC) are accepting entries of investigative reports conducted since January from now until June 15 from Khmer journalists in any medium, TIC executive director Preap Kol said yesterday.

First prize will take home $1,200 and win a trip to the Anti-Corruption Conference in Kuala Lumpur in September.

More such coverage is needed in Khmer media, which currently favours crime and politics reporting over investigations into corruption, CCJ board member Chhay Sophal said.

“Cambodian journalists must focus more on anti-corruption, so corrupt people can be scared and they can stop doing so,” he said yesterday.

Currently, many news outlets lack the capacity or inclination to allow reporters time to cover such stories, Sophal said. The award, he hopes, will provide incentive.