The Media Online’s weekly column delivering news of award wins, entries, competitions, dates to note and winners in the media industry.
M-Net’s Reyka nominated at the International Emmy Awards
M-Net is proud to be supporting our leading lady Kim Engelbrecht for her nomination in the Best Actress category at the International Emmy Awards, taking place on Monday, 21 November in New York. The acclaimed series, proudly produced by Quizzical Pictures, is also up for Best Drama Series.
Reyka follows a flawed but brilliant criminal profiler, Reyka Gama (Kim Engelbrecht). Haunted by her past, she investigates a string of brutal murders committed by a serial killer in the sugar cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal. Having been abducted as a child by a farmer named Speelman (Iain Glen), Reyka is traumatised by the experience but this also helps her enter the minds of Africa’s most notorious criminals and turn them inside out.
• M-Net’s Reyka is up for Best Drama and Best Actress (Kim Engelbrecht)
• First African drama series to be nominated in more than a decade
• Engelbrecht is fifth African actress to be nominated, following in the footsteps of Thuso Mbedu
• MultiChoice’s fourth International Emmy nomination in six years
• Reyka was the opening night series at Monte-Carlo Television Festival in 2021
• Sold by Fremantle to 147 territories
Eat Out magazine’s best restaurants in South Africa announced
In a glittering ceremony at the Grand Arena at GrandWest in Cape Town, SA’s culinary talents gathered together for the first time since 2019 to celebrate the resilience of their industry and to raise a glass to the newly announced Eat Out stars and special awards winners for 2022.
These are the 1, 2 and 3-star restaurants that were recognised this year and the 12 Special Awards which were handed out to individual restaurants, chefs and food personalities who are pushing the industry forward in a meaningful and innovative way.
Special Awards
- Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant of The Year – The LivingRoom at Summerhill Guest Estate
- Eat Out Woolworths Financial Services Chef of The Year – John Norris-Rogers of PIER
- Eat Out WCellar Wine Service Award – Victor Okolo from Salsify at The Roundhouse
- Eat Out Naked Malt Rising Star Award – Mmabatho Molefe from Emazulwini
- Eat Out Woolworths Financial Services Service Excellence Award – Forti Grill & Bar in Menlyn
- Eat Out Valpré Lannice Snyman Lifetime Achievement Award – Rudi Liebenberg
- Eat Out Woolworths Lockdown Innovation Award – Liam Tomlin
- Eat Out Woolworths Sustainability Award – FABER at Avondale
- Eat Out VISI Style Award – Zioux
- Eat Out Stella Artois Best Destination Restaurant Award – Nevermind in Cape St Francis
- Eat Out Woolworths Icon Award – La Madeleine in Pretoria
- Eat Out Retail Capital Best New Restaurant Award – Dusk in Stellenbosch
Levergy celebrates more than its 10-year-anniversary following the surge of recent industry awards
2022 has been momentous for industry-leading passion marketing agency, Levergy, who recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Following their milestone, as the most awarded agency in sport & entertainment, Levergy recently added Assegai Awards, New Generation Awards, Creative Circle award, as well as Loeries nominations to their accolades.
At the Assegai’s the agency managed to bag eleven wins on the night, including the prestigious Zinthatu Award for consistently delivering excellent and effective work over a three-year period.
While the agency is proud of its success over the last decade, it cannot shy away from the remarkable talent within the agency. Phumudzo Tshiovhe came out victorious with an individual award at the New Generation awards. He was acknowledged as The New Generation Best Agency Community Engagement Manager of the Year. “This is a great career milestone for me and is testament to hard work paying off. While this is awarded as an individual award, the guidance from Levergy as an industry leader has been admirable and is definitely a contributor to my success,” says Tshiovhe.
The team also took home a Gold Assegai for its Nedbank YouthX campaign, which launched as a movement to give young South Africans access to the resources, inspiration, and mentorship that they need to unlock their potential through their passions. YouthX also received two Silver awards for financial services and customer acquisition accordingly.
Tasting Notes: A Story of Sound and Wine, a campaign launched by Nedbank and the Cape Winemakers Guild, received two silver Assegai Awards for branded content and customer loyalty campaign as well as leader awards for the integrated campaign and shared value. Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers, which was an opportunity to get elite runners back on the road following a halt on all professional races due to the global pandemic, received a leader in the publishing, media, entertainment, and sports category.
A campaign that showed Levergy’s agility was Tasting Notes: A Story of Sound and Wine, which was conceptualised following the severe effects on wine industry during Covid-19 lockdowns. This unique wine-tasting experience and passion mash-up received a gold award for Best Use of Technical Innovation, Best Corporate Website and Excellence in Content Marketing as well as a bronze award for Best Online PR Campaign at the 10th Annual New Generation Awards.
4th Annual Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards – Winners announced
Twyg announced this year’s Sustainable Fashion Awards winners on 17 November 2022 at the Mount Nelson hotel in Cape Town. Designers and brands were awarded for their implementation of sustainable, ethical, circular and regenerative design.
“With over 100 entries, we are proud to present this year’s winners.” says Jackie May, founder and editor of Twyg. After a week-long judging process, 27 finalists were selected and 10 category winners were announced on the Thursday evening.
The winners of the Sustainable Fashion Awards are as follows:
- Accessory Award: The winner of this category is PICHULIK.
- Innovative Design and Materials Award presented by Polo South Africa: The winner of this category is Droomer.
- Nicholas Coutts Award: The winner of this category is Laaniraani, who wins R10 000 from Nicholas’ family.
- Student Award from Levi’s South Africa: The winner of this category is Aidan Peters.
- Textiles or Mills Award: The winner of this category is ZURI and IMANI.
- Trans-seasonal Award: The winner of this category is The BAM collective.
- Retail Award: The winner of this category is Merchants on Long.
- CMT or Manufacturer Award: The winner of this category is Sparrow Society.
- Influencer Award: The winner of this category is Khensani Mohlatlole.
- Changemaker Award presented by Country Road: The winner of the Changemaker Award who has been awarded R100 000.00 by Country Road is Droomer.
All category winners receive an assessment from Eco Standard South Africa.
The Red & Yellow Creative School of Business named the #1 school in the Pendoring Awards rankings for the second year in a row
The Red & Yellow Creative School of Business was named the number one school in the awards rankings at the 2022 Pendoring Awards Ceremony. This marks the second year in a row that Red & Yellow have held this impressive ranking.
The Pendoring Awards embraces local culture through the celebration of South Africa’s creative content in all its indigenous languages.
The awards achieved by Red & Yellow at this year’s ceremony are:
- Silver Craft Certificate: Waar die blommekinders baljaar (Poster)
- Gold: Die gees is dikker as water (Package design)
- Gold: KleinVis (Identity programmes)
- Craft Gold: KleinVis Student Print, Design and OOH (Craft illustration)
- Craft Certificate: Be Brighter Student Print, Design and OOH (Craft typography)
- Silver: Kwaaie Baba Peuterkos (Identity Programmes)
“This is an important win for us. It is a testament to all the incredible work and skill that our lecturers share with our students and it speaks to the amazing work prospective students get to do when part of the Red and Yellow family. Here’s to the future industry leaders, creators and inventors of tomorrow! We are super proud of you,” says Carmen Schaefer, Head of Academics, Red & Yellow Creative School of Business
Young creatives from IIE-Vega dominate 2022 awards season
This year, facing stiff competition, students from Vega, a brand of The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE), positively dominated the field, consistently raking in prestigious awards and recognition for their visionary work.
“We are honoured and delighted that this year’s students, with the dedication and support of our academic navigators, once more continued IIE-Vega’s position at the top of the leader board in the industry. We commend and congratulate them for their hard work and commitment, and look forward to seeing what mountains they will be moving as they join industry, where their future employers will be fortunate to have creatives with their level of qualification and experience,” says Christiaan Graaff: IIE-Vega programme and awards navigator.
IIE-Vega shone brightly again at the highly acclaimed global Creative Conscience Awards, with their students bringing about positive change through creative thinking and innovation, bagging themselves 6 awards – 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze – and 2 commendations in the process. Students Megan Hills, Christopher Meiring and Aumi Hooseria (with academic navigators Carmen Gunkel and Sonja van den Berg) from IIE-Vega’s Pretoria Campus shot to gold for their Mental Health campaign for Stabilo. Representing the same campus, Manushri Naidoo bagged a silver award for her campaign for Hario in the Environment & Sustainability category.
The Loeries saw IIE-Vega students walk away with 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze and 1 Craft Certificate. Veganite Megan Hills took the top spot for her excellent packaging design of Pikkld, with the support of her academic navigator Carmen Gunkel.
Cape Town students Kellan Jackson, Finn du Plessis and Michelle du Plessis (Academic navigators Anka Joubert, Mandy Speechly, Nico Jardim) bagged Silver for their outstanding Grasshoppers Integrated Campaign, Cringe Couture. Another silver went to Megan Hills for her outstanding product design – Pupil Optics in the General Design category.
Every year The Loeries, in partnership with Woolworths, runs the Loeries x Woolworths Student Portfolio Bootcamp, which saw IIE-Vega land second place this year. Kayleigh Hunter, a third-year Digital Design Veganite from JHB laid claim to a very worthy second place!
The IAB Bookmark Awards celebrated its 14th year of rewarding excellence in digital and recognising the powerful impact interactive has on the overall marketing mix in 2022, and IIE-Vega Bordeaux marked this milestone with them by bagging the prestigious Black Pixel Award for Best Digital Student for the sixth year in a row. Congrats to Veganites Bronwyn Jenkinson, Joshua Matseke, Mariam Mohamed, Tanna Teixeira and Gabriella Capazorio, and their academic navigators Lindelihle Bhebhe, Farrell West and Darren Meltz who guided them in producing award-winning work.
At the WPO WorldStar Student Awards, three Veganites were awarded WorldStar Student Certificates of Recognition. This year they received around 300 entries from students across the globe, which makes this a remarkable achievement for students Oyama Njeza, Khaleel Khan and Jenna Alexander.
In the Pendorings annual rankings, IIE-Vega once again made it to the top 3 creative tertiary institutions by claiming second place.
IIE-Vega also had four finalists competing in the graphic design category at the Student Gold Pack Awards. These awards celebrate the African Packaging Industry and honours excellence across a wide range of packaging solutions.
“Looking back at their success in 2022, we want to commend all our students for their hard work, commitment, vision and tenacity on their road to becoming valuable members of their respective industries. And we want to particularly thank our amazing winners, as well as their navigators for consistently helping our students excel year after year,” says Graaff.
TOPS at SPAR grabs top spot in the Ask Afrika Orange liquor sector survey
TOPS at SPAR has placed first in the prestigious Ask Afrika Orange Index in the Liquor stores industry category for 2022/23. The Index surveyed and measured customer satisfaction levels of as many as 215 companies across 27 industries.
With 825 owner-managed stores countrywide, the TOPS at SPAR brand continues to lead in the increasingly competitive liquor landscape, with The SPAR Group CEO for SA, Max Oliva, saying recognition across categories covering customer “emotional satisfaction” and loyalty, show that TOPS is the first choice brand in the communities we serve.
“With economic and geopolitical headwinds, inflation and high interest rates posing significant risks to the retail market in general, and customer wallets in particular, demands are sky high for the sector to do more than before. Customer expectation is high for excellence and quality to meet affordable pricing, and I am extremely pleased that TOPS at SPAR has been recognised for the innovation and growth it continues to achieve”.
The Ask Afrika Orange Index is the broadest and most widely referenced service excellence benchmark in South Africa. It measures service within, and across industries, and measures customer satisfaction, emotional satisfaction, and loyalty. It includes 10 of the most relevant service benchmarks, recognising companies that show exceptional performance across client experience metrics such as servicing and problem resolution.
South African leadership professional bags businesswoman of the year award
Keegor SA financial director Michelle Austin has been named Business Woman of the Year at the 2022 Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa (SEIFSA) Excellence Awards.
Now in their eighth year, the SEIFSA Business Woman of the Year award is bestowed to a successful woman-owned or led business in the metal and engineering (M&E) sector.
Austin, who has strong business acumen and extensive experience in the industry, said she felt privileged to receive the award. “What we have focused on over the past few years is employee engagement and we realised that this has helped us achieve what we have,” said the finance expert.
Keegor SA also received the Workplace Health and Safety Award, which was sponsored by Rand Mutual Assurance (RMA). This award acknowledges best practice approaches and achievement in workplace health and safety. The company has displayed a commitment to health and safety.
Series Mania announces creation of first annual Series Mania’s Creative Campaign Award
Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania (17-24 March 2023), today announces the creation of the first annual Series Mania’s Creative Campaign Award, a prize awarded by Series Mania to a series’ promotion for the viewing audiences. This new initiative responds to the need for broadcasters and platforms, faced with the dizzying number of series available each week, to create innovative and unique marketing campaigns so that the series are noticed and have every chance of gaining audience attention.
Creative agencies, broadcasters, streamers, or any company who has set up an innovative promotional and/or experiential campaigns for the launch of a series or a returning season of an existing series can apply for this award. The evaluation criteria will include the creativity of the campaign (originality, boldness, innovation) and the results of this campaign (awareness of the series, mentions in social media, press coverage, audience at launch…). The best campaigns submitted, and the winner will be presented during a special presentation during the 2023 Series Mania Forum.
For this first edition, campaigns launched in 2021 and 2022 will be eligible. The Call for Projects for Series Mania’s Creative Campaign Award opened on November 17, 2022 and closes on 6 January 2023. Submission link.
Cape Town recognised on global stage
A delegation from Cape Town Tourism and the City of Cape Town (CoCT) have this month attended two leading industry events in London, reaffirming Cape Town’s role on the global tourism stage.
Making the most of the opportunities afforded at these two leading industry events, namely World Travel Market London and the City Nation Place, this delegation also met with various partners to further rebuild and accelerate the recovery of the South African tourism sector. These included engaging with tourism company Kuoni, US-based travel site Expedia as well as leading airlines Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa.
Destination marketing needs to be both responsive and immersive, something that Cape Town Tourism has embraced, most recently with their Find Your Freedom campaign. This is an interactive interface created along with the use of game-style graphics to empower global travellers to choose what they want to do when visiting the Mother City, be it to experience adventure, explore nature or savour Cape Town’s foodie scene.
A highlight for Cape Town Tourism at the City Nation Place Awards was winning a Highly Commended Award in the Best Communication Strategy: Tourism for Find Your Freedom.
This category saw very stiff competition, with Cape Town Tourism up against the likes of campaigns by Fiji Tourism, VisitOSLO, Discover Puerto Rico and others, with the winning entry going to Welcome To The Icelandverse, entered by Business Iceland.
