Caxton Excellence Awards acknowledges its local talent

At this year’s awards, R275 000 was distributed in prize money, with George Herald being named the Best Sold Newspaper; The Randburg Sun as Best Free Newspaper and the Polokwane Review Bonus as the Best Emerging Market paper.

"Even though the awards are in their 30^th year, we are constantly overwhelmed with the hundreds of entries we receive from each on of our teams. The Caxton Excellence Awards celebrates and acknowledges those individuals and local printed products that excel in their market," says Karen Geurtse, general manager for Caxton local media regionals.

Other winners this year included Lizette da Silva (George Herald) for Best Front Page and Leah Shone, editor of Get It Balito/Umhlanga, which was named the Best Get It magazine. Additionally, Tereasa Dias (Lowvelder) was acknowledged as the group’s Best Multimedia Journalist.

The Most Promising Newspaper Journalist of the year was awarded to Arisa Janse van Rensburg (Lowvelder), with the Best Headline Writing accolade going to Kristy Kolberg (George Herald).

On the photography front, Ettienne van Rensburg from Vaal Weekblad was named overall Photographer of the Year. He also claimed the Best Human Interest Photograph category. Hugo Redelinghuys (George Herald) won Best Sports Photograph while Wayne van der Walt (Standerton Advertiser) won Best Hard News Photograph.

Ad Designer of the Year went to Geraldine Reyneke (Lowvelder), Field Sales Consultant of the Year went to Tamsin McMaster (Joburg South). The Best Community Involvement went to Norman Dawe, Daniella Potter Geshika Vorster and Aiden Eksteen from Fourways Review for their feature on the Ark Animal Centre.

"These awards shouldn’t be underestimated as they hold our teams accountable every day to ensure that the best local print products are consistently delivered to our readers and advertisers," adds Gill Randall, CEO of SPARK Media.

"Our editorial and sales people live and breathe their community every day, which is why they have such an exceptional understanding of their areas. These awards demonstrate this, and the value that each and every one of these ‘Caxtonites’ bring, not only to the local community, but to the advertisers looking to reach our valuable consumers," Randall concludes.

 For more information visit, www.caxton.co.za.