"There were a number of media houses that wrote on the VBS scandal, but the winners of the
South African Story of the Year, journalists Dewald van Rensburg and Sipho Masondo, were the ones that broke the story and stayed with it," says convening Judge, Mathatha Tsedu. "Their contribution to the coverage of the saga was also never challenged and, unlike others who came into the story later, they never had to backtrack," Tsedu adds.
Tsedu says that, unlike 2018, when one major story dominated the headlines, this year there was a variety of stories in the running for the title of
South African Story of the Year. "A lot of discussion took place around these during the judging period," he says. "In general, all the categories have good entries, except for
Sports Photography, where no award was given."
Rosetta Msimango was named
Upcoming/Rising star of the Year and the A
llan Kirkland Soga Lifetime Achiever Award was awarded to Robin Comley. All the category winners were rewarded with R15 000, a trophy and a certificate.
The
Frewin, McCall and
Joel Mervis Awards winners were also announced at the event. The
Frewin Award, which aims to recognise urban daily newspapers with a circulation above 40 000, went to
Beeld, while
Pretoria News was awarded the
McCall Award, which intends to honour urban daily newspapers with a circulation of 40 000 or less. The
Joel Mervis Award recognises urban weekly newspapers irrespective of their circulation. A joint award also went to
City Press.
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