Newspaper journalism awards finalists announced

The Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Award finalists have today been announced. The judging panel noted the high standard of the submissions and believed that the finalists chosen aptly underscored this year’s theme – perfect balance.

The judging panel, convened by Paula Fray, had an intense two-day session deciding on the finalists. Fray said, “We assessed a very large sample of South African newspaper journalism, and were able to conclude that the best entries were of superb standard.”

These are the comments and finalists for each category:

Hard news:  “As always, there was great reporting. We are lucky we live in a country with so much hard news, and so many brilliant reporters with the right words to convey the moment. As judges we were struck by the intensity of feelings about politicians squandering tax on luxury homes, on security, on a village, on diverting roads, on expensive cars – while subjecting their subjects to ever greater tax burdens. These stories brought different tears to our eyes.”

Hard News FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Analysis, commentary and background: “Many of the submissions were distinguished by their ability to present complex or unfamiliar issues in such a way that it appeals to the reader and makes fairly dense information accessible and even pleasurable reading. In general, the entrants displayed a commendable willingness to tackle complicated topics and present the results in uncluttered writing.”

Analysis, commentary and background FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Enterprise news: “This category awards journalists who identify important, original stories that would perhaps otherwise remain under the radar were it not for the reporter’s enterprise.

Enterprise FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Feature Writing: “In a category of 125 entries, which included some of the country’s finest narrative journalism and feature writing, reaching consensus on a winner was expectedly difficult.”

Feature Writing FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Investigative journalism: “At a time when newsrooms are confronted by all sorts of economic and political challenges and threats, investigating journalists continue to produce journalism of the highest standards and can hold their own anywhere in the world. This year a total of 44 entries were received – of which by far the majority were of a high standard and deserving of some merit. The judges had a tough time deciding which of the entries were to go through as finalists and which ones were to be, sadly, left out.”

Investigative journalism FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Creative Journalism: “Columnists dominated the creative journalism section, which had 63 entries, many of high calibre. Judges wanted the writing to be clear, engaging, and persuasive with readability and relevance to readers taken into consideration. Reading good columns is a delight, and indeed your judges found this a delight-filled task.”

Creative journalism FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Editorial Cartoons: “The standard of editorial cartooning in this country improves every year. Most newspapers can count on having at least one sophisticated editorial cartoon in each edition. The major improvement has been to the quality of the draughtsmanship. The more difficult trick, making a sharp point while avoiding the obvious, is more elusive.”

Editorial cartoons FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Graphic journalism: “The finalists all submitted examples of sophisticated and hugely ambitious work.”

Graphic journalism FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Popular Journalism:  “As this is a relatively new category of journalism in South Africa the number of entries were disappointing despite the increasingly dominant presence of tabloid publications. But what we received was an excellent indication of the potential of this kind of journalism.”

Popular journalism FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

News Photographs: “Always a tough category which this year had overwhelming entries on one of the biggest stories – service delivery protests. The finalists all deserve the highest accolades.”

News photographs FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Feature photographs: “The most beautiful work submitted this year.”

Feature photographs FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Sports Photographs: “This year, there was a notable lack of entries from the country’s top sports photographers.  Nevertheless, the finalists’ entries were of the highest calibre.

Sports photographs FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Presentation (Layout and Design): “The current fashion for template-driven newspaper design does ensure certain minimum standards, and a consistent professional feel.”

Presentation FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Online Reportage: “This year was the first year we had an online category. Online reportage is more than just repurposing print content. It’s a category that honours reporters who present content for the online medium that recognises the medium’s characteristics (interactivity, social, multimedia).”

Online reportage FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

Online Multimedia: “ The Online Multimedia with either audio and/or video entries were of high quality and were mostly produced by print publications seeking to extend a story.”

Online multimedia FINALISTS and those COMMENDED:

The South African Story of the Year and, the Newspaper Journalist of the Year will be announced on the night of the awards ceremony.

The Standard Bank Sikuvile Newspaper Awards’ judging panel consists of:

Paula Fray (Convenor)

Tyrone August

David Wightman

Liesl Louw

Tumi Makgabo

Peter Sullivan

Mike Siluma

Henry Jeffreys

Juby Mayet

Irwin Manoim

Gail Smith

Matthew Buckland

Robin Comley