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The International Congress of Investigative Journalism reaches its 20th edition with new features in its curatorship and celebrating its history. Over the years, Abraji has worked to bring together journalists from Brazil and around the world to discuss the main matters facing the profession, as well as offering training and introducing tools that are now widely used in journalistic investigations.
Abraji's 20th Congress will take place from July 10th to July 13th, 2025, at ESPM-SP, which has hosted the last two editions. The partnership between the two institutions is already part of the event's history, and not only does it provide the ideal infrastructure to host the panels and workshops, but also the teams from the journalism department, events and students, who volunteer their services. The presence of students brings an innovative perspective to an already traditional event and enables mutual learning between professionals and young journalists.
Training young reporters in the newsroom-laboratory
Since the beginning, the Abraji Congress has also relied on the contribution of students through the official coverage organized by Oboré Special Projects. Reinventing itself over the years, the newsroom-laboratory is responsible for covering the event's activities in real time and, at the same time, contributing to the training of young reporters.
Some of those who took part in the latest editions now work in the country's main newsrooms and journalism organizations. Journalist Laura Scofield, a reporter for Agência Pública, took part in the 18th and 19th editions as an editor in the laboratory. In 2024, Scofield returned to Abraji's Congress as a panelist on "How to investigate: the tobacco industry" and "How to investigate: digital threats", in which she shared her experience of investigative reporting. For her, “Oboré's newsroom-laboratory helps young journalists, many of whom have never worked in a newsroom, to understand the dynamics of a coverage and attend a panel with the view of a reporter, rather than a participant”.
Pedro Teixeira, a reporter at Folha de S.Paulo, was also an editor and talks about how the experience helped him see what it's like to be “on the other side” and about how he could pass on his newsroom knowledge to younger journalists. “There's a pedagogical process there,” he says, adding: “It shows a bit of the behind-the-scenes of reporting, which is preparing yourself to be able to quickly produce a story that is informative, contextualized and accurate.”
Applications to take part in the coverage of the 20th Congress are now open and will run until April 30. The call for applications, which are voluntary, is open to all journalism students, recent graduates and journalists from all over Brazil interested in taking part in the coverage. Find out more in the article published by Abraji.
Thematic tracks and the event's curatorship
As in the previous edition, the 20th Abraji Congress' activities will be organized into thematic tracks, which will act as guiding threads through the main topics to be covered at the event. The tracks were created by the curatorial team of the 19th Congress and will be maintained in the 2025 edition due to the successful organization.
The event's activities will be conducted by journalists, grassroots communicators, indigenous leaders, managers and representatives of non-profit organizations with experience in the areas of technology, environmental journalism, management and marketing, safety and protection of journalists, through workshops, round tables and exhibition panels. To find out more about each of the tracks, Abraji has prepared this article with this edition's main topics.
The highlights in 2025 will be the tracks on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in journalism and on COP30 and the Environment (United Nations Conference on Climate Change), which is taking place in Belém in November. The aim is to understand how AI tools can be applied in the writing of reports and how they impact on day-to-day life in newsrooms. Regarding coverage of the Conference of the Parties (COP), the focus will be on providing tips on how to prepare for covering the event, what are Brazil's main challenges in covering the Amazon and other biomes and how to investigate agribusiness, illegal mining and the corporations linked to these activities.
“Environmental and climate coverage is gaining more and more space and importance,” says Angela Boldrini, curator of the 20th Congress. According to her, in the year that Brazil hosts the COP, it is crucial to anchor debates in this area so that journalists feel prepared to cover the event.
Congress honorees throughout its history
One of the main traditions of the Abraji Congress is the ceremony that celebrates the edition's honoree. The board of directors chooses a professional who has made a significant contribution to Brazilian journalism and who is an inspiration to fellow journalists and students. Names such as Tim Lopes, Elvira Lobato, Angelina Nunes, Caco Barcellos and Fabiana Moraes have had their work and lives celebrated by journalists from different parts of the country and from all over the world at the closing ceremony of the first day of activities.
In the congress' 20th anniversary, names already celebrated at the event – renowned journalists who are part of this story – will be honored together. All the honorees will once again be recognized as fundamental pillars of the profession, whose contributions have paved the way for so many others who work to defend journalism, press freedom and democracy in Brazil.
For Abraji's president Katia Brembatti, “the Congress is always a time for reflection. To look at the past, the present and the future. In 2025, in addition to all these perspectives, we will also have a celebration. Journalists have a fondness for milestone anniversaries and given the important work we do for society, it’s only fitting that we take a moment to celebrate.”
The figures from the last edition and the expectations for the 20th Congress
Since 2023, Abraji has outdone itself in terms of the number of participants and activities at the Congress. The 19th edition was the record holder for attendance. The event brought together around 1,830 people over four days, including the online format, and established itself as one of the largest journalism events in the Americas. There were 163 in-person activities (including the Congress and Data Sunday) – more than 244 hours of available content – as well as 16 book launches and a further 27 online activities, including broadcasts and new content, available on the event's platform.
Another important achievement was the increase in diversity, which remains a priority goal for the event's organization in 2025. Among the participants, 33.4% were black, brown, indigenous and asian - an increase of almost 1 percentage point on the previous year (32.5%). Abraji also offered 87 grants for journalists and communicators, including the Galapagos Journey, the Environmental Defenders program, Abraji's Caravana project and for black women. For the 20th Congress, the number of grants will rise to 100. Notices and application dates will be shared according to the type of scholarship on the association's communication channels.
The 2025 edition aims to address current discussions in journalism while also celebrating the many important names and moments that have made it possible to reach the event's 20-year mark. Each year the goals involve creating more opportunities for journalists from all brazilian regions to contribute with their local and cultural knowledge, and to participate in training sessions that praise their outlets and their journalistic work. The 2025 Congress will celebrate its history and the journalists who built it.
Services
20th International Congress of Investigative Journalism
Venue: ESPM - Álvaro Alvim Campus
Rua Doutor Álvaro Alvim, 123 - Vila Mariana - São Paulo
Date: July 10-13, 2024
Registration for the event avaible: https://congresso.abraji.org.br/inscreva-se.
Funding and partnership opportunities for the event are currently available. Interested organizations can contact via [email protected].
Credits for the photo: Luciana Vassoler/Abraji
