Obey Sibanda, [email protected]
YOUNG innovators have demonstrated how technology can help transform Zimbabwe’s media industry, developing digital solutions aimed at improving newsroom efficiency, sustainability and accessibility at the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC)-National University of Science and Technology (Nust) Hackathon 2026.
The three-day hackathon brought together university students to develop technology-driven responses to challenges confronting media organisations, with the ZMC expressing optimism that some of the concepts could be translated into practical tools for newsrooms.
Scxrpius emerged as the overall winner after scooping two awards, first winning in its category before claiming the overall prize with its project, Corvus.
The team developed a mobile and web-based, offline-first newsroom platform designed specifically for Zimbabwean journalists.
The platform enables journalists to draft, collaborate, verify and publish stories, while offering transcription services, local language support and voice-to-editable-text functionality.
It also incorporates article version control and artificial intelligence tools to assist with story planning, drafting, proofreading and plagiarism checks. In addition, it provides a portal for anonymous reporting and access to published stories.
ZMC executive secretary Godwin Phiri said the initiative sought to harness the creativity of young people and develop digital innovations that could help media organisations navigate an increasingly challenging operating environment.
He said the commission was impressed by the ideas presented, adding that the priority was now to move beyond the competition and ensure promising innovations found practical application in newsrooms.
“The kind of thinking that these young people showed us was amazing. They were thinking outside the box, coming up with innovative ideas and things that we had never thought about ourselves,” he said.
Phiri said the commission would explore ways of scaling up the concepts and introducing them to media houses to improve operational efficiency.
He described the partnership between the ZMC and Nust as strategic, given the growing influence of technology in the media industry.
ZMC Commissioner Rufaro Ellen Mhandu said the hackathon was not merely a competition for prizes but a platform for young people to develop solutions to real challenges facing the media sector.
She said the innovations demonstrated that Zimbabwe had the talent to develop home-grown solutions suited to local needs.
“We wanted young people to help us imagine a media sector that is more sustainable, more accessible, more innovative and better prepared for the future,” she said.
Commissioner Mhandu encouraged participants to continue developing their ideas beyond the competition, emphasising that not winning a prize did not diminish the value of their contributions.
Chairman of the Artificial Intelligence Institute Africa, Dr Dennis Magaya, said the judging process had been exciting, given the level of participation and creativity demonstrated by the students.
He said the innovations had given stakeholders hope that the future of the media industry was in capable hands.
Team representative Nomathemba Gumede said participating in the hackathon had strengthened her technical skills and taught her valuable lessons about teamwork and perseverance.
“I did not only learn coding skills on top of what I already had from my educational background, but I also learnt teamwork,” she said.
Gumede encouraged young innovators to remain committed to their ideas, saying hard work could sometimes surpass talent.
The ZMC said it hoped to continue the initiative, with plans to translate promising concepts into practical digital solutions for media organisations.
