Sikuvile Awards hold a mirror to highest standards of journalism

The Standard Bank Sikuvile Awards, by focusing on print and online, hold up a mirror to the sector with benchmarks against which South African journalists can measure their work, says convening judge of the annual awards, Paula Fray. Glenda Nevill reports.

But, she says, “it is also a space to highlight media innovation, rising stars and the stalwarts of our profession. I think the awards are important because they confirm that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of journalism even in tough times of change”, Fray told The Media Online following the announcement of the winners at an event held on Wednesday night.

“We’ve tried to ensure that the awards remain relevant and useful even as print media changes,” says Fray. “We review the entries and categories every year to make sure that we are relevant for the industry. I think that is reflected in the increasing number of entries and entrants and with the prestige of the awards.”

Fray says entries continue to impress. “There were some standout examples of quality journalism that reflect an industry successfully grappling with constant change.”

For her personally, it is the continued “improvement, innovation and mastery of multi platform storytelling” that stood out. “Many of the stories which failed to make the shortlist this year probably would have made the shortlist when we first introduced this category. It is also clear that we’re experimenting with serving our readers on all these platforms – which is great news for long-form journalism,” she says.

Interestingly, Sunday Sun’s Bongani Mdakane and Kgomotso Moganedi won the Hard News category with their story, ‘Senzo a soccer cheat’ and were runners up in the Popular (tabloid) category with the same story. Is the line blurring between tabloids and broadsheets in terms of hard news? Fray says two different groups of judges looked at the two categories. Fray says no hard news stories from the broadsheets made the shortlist this year.

“While the basics of journalism (accuracy, diversity of sources, etc) apply to each category, there are key differences in the criteria for each of them. Hard news seeks journalism that is urgent, breaking news, typically written to tight deadlines and under pressure,” Fray explains. “Popular journalism is looking for stories with content for and about readers of tabloid journalism. The judges in popular journalism felt that the quality of report and writing was improving and that the categories’ entries really held their own against other entries. They found the popular journalism stories accessible, informative and entertaining,” she said.

Another stand out feature was the number of young journalists winning awards this year. Fray says the awards have never had a shortage of candidates for the Young Journalist of the Year category “with quite a number having less than three years’ experience and making it into the finalists or long shortlists”.

At the same time, she does think, “newsrooms are younger but younger journalists appear to be entering the profession with a higher skills set. Some of the young reporters are doing excellent work.

“The award has been opened up to online reporters and non-PDMSA members but it has also attracted a wider range of entrants as it continues to grow in stature,” she says.

Eastern Cape daily, the Daily Dispatch, based in East London, continued its winning streak, challenging national and other provincial publications. Bongani Fuzile & Mphumzi Zuzile won the coveted Story of the Year award for their piece, ‘Nelson Mandela Funeral Scandal’. They also took the Investigative Journalism category with the same story. And their cartoonist, Cuan Miles, was a runner up in the Editorial Cartoon category.

“The Daily Dispatch and The Herald consistently punch well above their weight but the awards often have strong showing from regional newspapers,” says Fray. “This year, for example, we also had finalists from The Cape Times and Daily News. We do want to encourage more vernacular entries and have reached out to a diverse group of judges to ensure that we are able to judge such entries,” she says.

The Herald was a runner up in the Enterprise News category with Kathryn Kimberley’s ‘Gangs thrive on poor’ and Mkhululi Ndamase, Riaan Marais & Brian Witbooi’s piece, ‘A legacy in ruins’.

No publication won the Presentation category this year. “It’s always difficult not identify a winner but the judges felt that while some attractive pages were submitted, none was sufficiently outstanding to count as a prize winner,” says Fray. “This category is looking for compelling presentation with various elements used – such as content, headlines, photographs and graphics – assessed of clarity, readability, and aesthetic attractiveness. We’re looking for memorable presentations that amplify the content.”

Fray says the judging process is designed to encourage debate so that even when each category’s shortlist is finalised the judging team needs to support their choices to the rest of the group. “But the final decisions are supported by all.”

The Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards 2015 Winners

CATEGORY 1:   HARD NEWS

NAME                                      TITLE                                       COMPANY

CATEGORY 2:   COLUMNS / EDITORIAL

CATEGORY 3:   ENTERPRISE NEWS

CATEGORY 4:   FEATURE WRITING

CATEGORY 5:   INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

CATEGORY 6:   EDITORIAL CARTOONS

CATEGORY 7:   GRAPHIC JOURNALISM

CATEGORY 8:   POPULAR JOURNALISM

CATEGORY 9:   NEWS PHOTOGRAPHS

CATEGORY 10:   FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHS

CATEGORY 11: SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHS

CATEGORY 13:   MULTIPLATFORM

CATEGORY 14:   MULTIMEDIA

CATEGORY 15:   SA STORY OF THE YEAR

CATEGORY 16:   YOUNG JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

CATEGORY 17:   NEWSPAPER JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR