"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 Allan 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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