The Media Online’s weekly column delivering news of award wins, entries, competitions, dates to note and winners in the media industry.
Finalists announced in the 2020 Pendoring Awards
The Pendorings have announced the finalists in the disrupted 2020 awards after an epic round of judging 277 entries online over two days by a diverse awards jury.
“A global pandemic has certainly not affected creativity, and it was a joy to see so much brilliant work being told with cultural insight in our indigenous languages,” said one of the three jury presidents this year, Mpume Ngobese.
Pendoring general manager, Eben Keun, said it was fantastic to see an increase in entries in the indigenous language publishing categories, “as well as exceptional growth in the student category”.
Winners of the 25th Pendoring Awards will this year be announced digitally in a livestream on 13th November from 3pm on Pendoring social media channels.
Finalists are too extensive to carry in full here, but the complete list can be accessed here.
“We are also hosting our first Pendoring Business Seminar on the 17 November in partnership with Fin24, PanSALB and the Indigenous Language Action Forum,” added Keun. “It promises to be a good one as we are engaging directly with business leaders who give briefs to agencies, with interesting topics such as what is the cost of not doing more indigenous language work.”
Join the Pendoring Business Seminar by registering here.
Hollard donates half its 2020 BASA Awards sponsorship to supporting the arts community
For the Hollard Group and Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), there was no question: Covid-19 pandemic or not, the 2020 BASA Awards had to go ahead. The real poser was, how could the awards celebrate achievement and materially support the struggling arts sector?
Hollard has for 22 years been a member of BASA, which facilitates partnerships between the corporate and arts sectors to their mutual benefit. It has been the awards’ co-sponsor for seven years, the past three as lead partner, helping to recognise and celebrate those partnerships.
This year’s 23rd BASA Awards, whose winners will be revealed virtually on 19 November, has ‘Indelible’ as its theme. The awards comprise seven open categories, as well as two further categories where winners are decided at BASA’s discretion.
“When it became apparent that the pandemic and subsequent lockdown would impact this year’s BASA Awards but, more importantly, was also having a devastating effect on the arts community, we sat down with BASA and had a conversation about how we could make an indelible, positive mark on the arts,” said Heidi Brauer, CMO for the Hollard Group.
The upshot is that half of Hollard’s sponsorship of the awards has been allocated instead to the Covid-19 BASA Artist Relief Fund, set up to assist struggling artists to weather the pandemic in practical and sustainable ways.
Brauer added that this financial support had enabled BASA to also provide artists with grants in lieu of lost income, allowing them to carry on with their creative work. “Twenty-three artists have been provided with grants as a result of our support of the relief fund,” she says.
The decision to divert half of Hollard’s sponsorship of the BASA Awards in this way is in keeping with the insurer’s business purpose, called Better Futures.
Read more: Covid-19 shows it’s time to rewrite the script on jobs in the creative economy
Jerusalema hitmaker Master KG bags coveted Best African Act award at 2020 MTV EMAS
The 2020 MTV EMAs honoured some of the biggest names in global music this year. South African musician and Jerusalema hitmaker Master KG took home top honours’ to win the coveted Best African Act.
In a virtually recorded acceptance speech, the now globally renowned superstar Master KG thanked to all his fans who have helped make his smash hit Jerusalema one of the biggest songs on the planet. “I would love to thank my sister Nomcebo, my team Open Mic Productions, and everyone who has supported Master KG, thank you so much. To all my fans all over the world, without you this would have not been possible,” he said.
Monde Twala, Senior Vice President and General Manager of ViacomCBS Networks Africa commented, “Master KG’s accolades at this year’s MTV EMA’s is a testament to his global popularity which has seen people all over the world unite in dance to his smash hit Jerusalema during one of the most unprecedented times in our history. We recognise his great achievement in bringing people together across cultures and congratulate him on this massive win.”
SABC wins gold and silver at the Promax Africa Awards
The SABC’s Freedom Month Campaign, produced and aired in April this year, won a Promax gold award in the best design without footage category. A silver award for the best radio promotion was awarded to the radio promo of SABC3’s Access Animal Shows.
The Promax Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in entertainment marketing and design by honouring teams that use their design and marketing talents to drive audiences, create value, and build leading brands in entertainment.
These accolades bear testimony to the SABC’s commitment of ensuring world-class marketing and design initiatives which resonate with our audiences and meet the industry’s best practice standards.
ViacomCBS Networks Africa scoops record 29 awards at the Promax BDA Africa Awards
ViacomCBS Networks Africa scooped a record 29 awards at this year’s prestigious PromaxBDA Africa 2020 Awards. The annual awards programme is recognised as one of the most prestigious in the world.
The media network scooped an impressive five gold accolades, 15 silver, and nine bronze awards. Following a momentous year in 2019, which saw the ViacomCBS Networks Africa’s channel brands collectively receive 24 awards, this year the network confidently went into the PromaxBDA Africa 2020 Awards with an aim to add to their already impressive year on year accolades tally.
The 29 awards this year represents wide representation across channel brands from BET Africa, Comedy Central, and MTV Base. Gold winners ranged from Best Public Service Announcement Community Spot for ViacomCBS Women’s Day, a thought-provoking approach that turned the head on GBV with its Gender Based Violations messaging. Also taking Gold was Love in the Time of Corona created for the innovative virtual Africa Day Benefit Concert format during Covid-19. The food relief initiative in partnership with YouTube, Idris Elba, UNICEF, and recent Nobel Peace Prize winner, The World Food Programme.
Silver winners included the best original logo for BET Africa’s first locally produced original daily drama ISONO alongside Comedy Central’s Deep Fake (The Movies) and Novemballs as well as accolades for MTV Base’s Queens Of Base and Breakfast Bangers. Also clinching a silver award for Best Use of Celebrity/Social is the continuing campaign, Stop The Violence, geared towards raising awareness and positive change about GBV, Xenophobia, and most recently in support of the protests in support of #ENDSARS in Nigeria.
Kellogg’s Granola cereal scoops a Nielsen’s Top Innovations South Africa 2019 Award
Nielsen, a global measurement and data analytics company, recently released a Top Innovations report which has highlighted Kellogg’s Granola range as one of the Top 14 successful Innovations in South Africa. The brand won in the Nielsen’s ‘Brand Grower’ category.
This award not only recognises cereal brands, but brands across all categories. This survey examined a wide range of products which were drawn from the food, personal care, beverages, and snacks categories.
The report points out that at least 38% of local consumers enjoy trying out new products, and 41% actively search for new products. This confirms that there are opportunities for unique, tasty, and healthy foods for brands to remain relevant in a highly competitive market.
In 2019, the Kellogg’s Granola range was repositioned with the ‘Indulge All Your Senses’ campaign that aimed to highlight how the range offers consumers wholesome, real ingredients that they can indulge on.
Top honours go to FNB and ABSA at the 2020 SARA Reward Awards
At the recently held 2020 Reward Awards ceremony hosted by the South African Reward Association (SARA), FNB won the Reward Project of the Year award while ABSA won the Remuneration Report award. Yolanda Sedlmaier won the prestigious President’s Award.
The annual rewards celebrate the companies and professionals who design total reward solutions that attract, retain, motivate, and engage employees in a way that makes a difference to their organisations.
The other placed nominees of the 2020 SARA Reward Project of the Year award were Anglo Platinum in second place for their Team+ Performance Management and Reward project, and Standard Bank in third place for their COVID-19 Employee Support and Relief project.
