The awards say that to move the industry forward, the Publishing category now includes more aspects aligned with IAB South Africa's core focus areas of advertising, marketing and related digital publishing.

Heading up the Bookmarks' categories during 2022's judging process are:

Marketing: Kabelo Moshapalo, chief creative officer at Ogilvy Johannesburg
According to the awards, Moshapalo has more than 20 years of advertising and digital interactive experience. He has also led key digital transformation initiatives throughout his career.

These include award-winning work at major advertising festivals such as
  • Cannes Lions
  • ADC New York, and
  • The One Show.
This led him to earn a spot on Destiny Man's 2015 Power of 40 List, which celebrates extraordinary men under the age of 40 from across the country.

Moshapalo is also on the executive committee of the Creative Circle and was appointed to the Creative Circle's forum that seeks to elevate the standard of creativity and innovation across brands and agencies — called AB InBev Braintrust — in both 2020 and 2021.

Publisher: Lebogang Boshomane, SowetanLIVE online editor at Arena Holdings
Boshomane is the digital editor of Sowetan newspaper's digital platform. She has more than 10 years of experience in online content production.

According to the awards, her responsibilities include editing and managing content across SowetanLIVE's channels, where she has assisted in growing the platform's footprint to more than 3.5 million unique browsers — as well as running successful campaigns such as Mzansi's Sexiest and Sowetan's Black edition.

Boshomane was selected for WAN-IFRA's Strengthening Media and Society capacity building programme. 

Performance Marketing: Audrey Naidoo, head digital marketing at ABSA
Naidoo is a modern marketer, digital marketing activist, podcaster, influencer, public speaker and member of various professional bodies.

Her professional bodies include:
  • IAB Brand Council
  • Mobile Marketing Association
  • Marketing Association of South Africa, and
  • chief marketing officer at the Advisory Council for Africa.
Naidoo's podcast LetsTalkDigital aims to educate and open up digital conversations within the industry. Her experience in the broader digital ecosystem merges commercial interests and strategy with data, analytics and digital marketing transformation. This is to accomplish results in the marketing sector.

Social, Community and Influencer Marketing: Zahira Kharsany, head of social and digital strategist at Gorilla
Kharsany worked in digital media at the Mail & Guardian Online. With 13 years working for agencies, as well as her background in media, her experience spans online, print and marketing.

In addition to being the key digital strategist at Gorilla, Kharsany is a writer, blogger and tech junkie.

Builders: Jessica van der Westhuyzen, digital marketer at 10X Investments
According to the awards, van der Westhuyzen has spent the past 13 years of her career leading teams and companies in digital strategy and transformation, as well as the adoption of MarTech platforms.

Having served as a member of the Bookmarks Builders panel for the past four years, this will be van der Westhuyzen's first as its jury chair.

Innovative Engineers: Walter Madzonga, programme manager digital strategy and innovation at ShopriteX, Rainmaker
A driver of change who strives for excellence, Madzonga has been passionate about and involved in innovation and strategy across multiple sectors since the completion of his degree in electrical engineering.

Having assisted various companies with their digital transformation agendas in the telecoms, media and FMCG industries, he now works in the retail sector for a company disrupting itself from within.

Madzonga enjoys working with dynamic teams using innovation and technology to disrupt business models and is currently enamoured with the integrated value ecosystem space.

Youth Action: Luzuko Tena, Mediacom
In addition to being Mediacom South Africa's social media director, Tena is an advocate for:
  • youth
  • education and diversity
  • equity, and
  • inclusion.
His career, which has seen him work at heavyweight brands and agencies, has exposed him to the diverse and wide-ranging ecosystem of digital marketing.

In 2021, Tena celebrated many milestones, including appearing on the panel of numerous industry events and winning the 2021 Bookmarks Black Pixel for the Best Contribution to Transformation in the Digital Industry.

Special Honours: Ryan McManus, chief creative officer at VMLY&R South Africa
McManus brings a wealth of global experience and clear purpose to projects, having travelled and worked for some of the world's leading agencies.

In addition to leading VML South Africa's growth trajectory in the creative field, McManus has been listed in the Mail & Guardian Top 200 South Africans. He has also been a keynote speaker at Cannes Lions and Adobe conferences and had the privilege of judging: 
  • Cannes YDA
  • the Loeries 
  • Bookmarks 
  • New York Festival 
  • AdPrint, and
  • ADC.
For more information, visit www.thebookmarks.co.za. You can also follow IAB South Africa on Facebook or on Twitter.