Awards Wrap: Radio Workshop nominated for Podcast of the Year, Bar & Beverage Awards 2023 winners announced, grab those MOST Awards tickets now

The Media Online’s weekly column delivering news of award wins, entries, competitions, dates to note and winners in the media.

Radio Workshop podcast is recognised across the globe

Back in March 2023, the podcast series I Will Not Grow Old Here was nominated for an Ambies Award for Best Documentary Podcast. Adding to the accolades, in June, the organisation won Best Documentary at the One World Media Awards in London.

This week, Radio Workshop found out it is a finalist at the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and Radio Workshop are also in the running for Podcast of the Year at the African Podcasters and Voiceover Artists Awards.

These awards highlight one thing in particular – the world wants to hear African youth telling their own stories.

The latest podcast episode, This Coal Life, takes us to Kriel, a small coal mining town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. With support from local community radio station partner eMalahleni FM, youth reporter Siya Mokoena worked alongside senior producer Dhashen Moodley for six months to report on how the government’s plans to close the mines by 2030 will impact the community.

This Coal Life pulls back the curtain on the challenges brought on by the  move to renewables. What does the transition to cleaner energy mean for a father who’s only ever worked in the mining industry, and for a family whose livelihood is entirely dependent  on coal?

The episode was broadcast by our youth reporters as part of their weekly show on eMalahleni FM and received feedback from more than 700 community listeners.

“I hope community members find out that we all have a role to play. They should find out what this Just Transition is because if the mine worker speaking in the podcast doesn’t know about it, then what are the chances that the community does?” said a 16-year-old listener

Bar & Beverage Awards 2023 winners announced

The ANGOSTURA Bar & Beverage Awards 2023, announced its winners at a gala ceremony held at The Westin Hotel in Cape Town; 200 guests from industry attended this inaugural awards ceremony from all over the country.

“South Africa is one of the world’s top destinations for gastronomy, leisure and hospitality,” said Paul Reynell, Angostura Bar & Beverage Awards director. “And a huge contributor to our global reputation as a destination is our cocktail bars and teams. This annual campaign now recognises all industry stakeholders and the role they play in South Africa’s economy.”

One of the big awards for 2023, Best Cocktail Bar, went to Gauteng based Sin Tax. Co-owner, Julian Short, spoke on behalf on the team. “The whole industry works just as hard as us, but to be nominated by a group of your peers, and then win, is very cool. It also means that you’re doing the right thing, so just keep going!”

Making their mark in the industry and picking up the award for Best New Cocktail Bar was Cape Town based Hacienda.  Head bartender, Dalu Dube, found himself overwhelmed by their incredible achievement. “We feel so lucky – the support we’ve received from everyone else in the industry is just incredible. We’re like a family.”

The Best Bartender category saw two incredible innovators from the industry awarded the title: Charne van Heerden from The House of Machines and Julian Short from Sin Tax.

The awards also recognised four industry pioneers, who have invested years in the industry not just locally but also globally. Their contribution to the industry has been insurmountable and between them, they have innovated, trained, mentored and developed much of the local cocktail landscape as we see it today. Recipients of the Industry Icon Awards were Brent Perremore, Kurt Schlechter, Marson Strydom and Raymond Endean.

Webber Wentzel scoops most awards at the 2023 African Legal Awards

The African Legal Awards took place at The Hilton on Friday, 1 September, where we were awarded several prestigious awards, making us the biggest winners of the evening.

For the third consecutive year, Webber Wentzel was awarded the ESG Initiative of the Year Award, highlighting its commitment to making a transformative and sustainable impact through work and actions. This award is for the pro bono advice the firm is providing to the Minerals Council of South Africa’s Partnership to tackle Gender-Based Violence in Mining Communities. In their comments, the judges noted that “Webber Wentzel is the continent’s driver in ESG”.

The firm also won various team awards, including:

• Competition and Regulatory Team of the Year
• Employment Team of the Year
• Transport and Infrastructure Team of the Year

“Congratulations to Tobia Serongoane, our very own trailblazer, for winning the Private Practice Most Promising Newcomer Award. This award highlights the work done by Tobia on prominent cases as well as his assistance to a large mining company in conducting an ESG risk assessment of its mining operation in Sub-Saharan Africa and for contributing to the wider community by offering pro bono assistance as an Advisory Board Member for various NGOs,” said Christo Els, Webber Wentzel Senior Partner and Chair.

Santam Awarded Top Personal Insurance Company at FIA Awards

Santam has been named Non-Life Insurer of the Year at the prestigious 2023 Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa’s (FIA) Intermediary Experience Awards, held in Johannesburg last night. Santam was awarded the prize in the Personal Insurance category, which is one of the most competitive categories at the awards.

The award follows Santam’s strong interim results announcement yesterday, where the insurer shared that it had more than doubled its interim profit with a 146% increase in headline earnings per share.

The FIA Intermediary Experience Awards are the most prestigious and well-known annual recognition event in the South African financial services industry and present an essential yardstick to determine whether the industry is effective and meeting the demands of the market.

Commenting on the accolade, Andrew Coutts, CEO of Santam Broker Solutions said: “We are honoured to receive recognition in the personal insurance category of the FIA Intermediary Experience Awards. We greatly value our intermediaries and this recognition reflects our commitment and hard work to provide them with the best possible insurance experience.”

Canon wins seven printing United Alliance Pinnacle Product and Technology Awards

Canon’s wide format production printing technologies have again been recognised in the annual PRINTING United Alliance Pinnacle Awards, with six Pinnacle Product Awards and one Pinnacle Technology Award.

The Colorado M-series was the winner in the Roll-to-Roll/Hybrid/Flatbed New Technology category, while the Arizona 135 GT, 1380 GTF, 1380 XTF, 2380 GTF, and 2380 XTF made a clean sweep by winning each of their five respective UV/Latex Flatbed categories. Additionally, Canon also won the Pinnacle Technology Award for the recently launched unique Canon UVgel White Ink.

Open to all PRINTING United Alliance supplier members, the Pinnacle Product Award competition evaluates products that are commercially available in 2023. This year, over 160 entries across 58 categories, covering analogue, digital, output, and non-output technologies, were judged by a highly qualified panel of experts from the printing industry.

MOST Awards tickets – grab your tickets now