This year a new category – Young Journalist – was introduced and Ntombikayise Lina Mlangeni of Daily Sun was the first winner of this award in the Central region.

Media24 journalists scooped half the awards in the Central region.


They are:

  • CSI / Sustainability - Charné Kemp of Volksblad for Asbes in De Aar;
  • Financial / Economic - Marietjie Gericke of Volksblad for Boere woedend oor verkenning, and Veevoer-bedrieërs slaan munt uit knellende droogte;
  • Photography - Willem van der Berg of Platteland for Waar boer en werker hande vat;
  • Print Feature - Elsje Waldeck of Volksblad for Dié moordenaars het ons ook doodgemaak;
  • Print News - André Damons of News24 for Bloemfontein Huis van gruwels; and
  • Young Journalist - Ntombikayise Lina Mlangeni of Daily Sun for From worn out boots to playing for Orlando Pirates, Malema sings and Zahara is engaged.

Gericke deserves a special mention. On the way to the awards ceremony she stopped at a fatal accident scene and filed a brilliant story on the spot but was too late for the prizegiving event.

The Northern region ceremony was held on Wednesday, 19 October and City Press investigative journalist, Susan Comrie, was named winner in the Online category for her series, Pushing heroin: How the trial of a young Tanzanian mother exposed South Africa’s growing role in the international heroin trade.

At the KwaZulu-Natal regional awards ceremony, News24’s, Jeff Wicks, was named winner in the Financial / Economic category for How Panday bought the cops, while The Witness’, Chelsea Pieterse, won in the Print News category for SA Code Red – TAC, Hospitals out of medication, SA Running out of Penicillin.

The Port Elizabeth and Cape Town award ceremonies will be held on Thursday, 27 and Friday, 28 October respectively. Each regional winner receives R5 000 and will travel to Johannesburg for the national finals on Friday, 11 November.

For more information, visit www.media24.com. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter using the #VJOY16 hashtag.