With the exception of freelancer, Karl Ammann, who won the Video Media category and Adrian de Kock who won the Photography category, none of the remaining eight winners had been recognised in the competition before.

Robyn Chalmers, head of Media and Communications for SAB says: “Last year, we were delighted to see the diversity of new talent entering the competition and it is wonderful to see this again this year. Alongside those esteemed journalists who have been fighting the good fight for years now, we also have a growing number of new journalists who not only specialise in matters environmental, but take these pertinent stories and make them part of the general newsroom diary. And that is a major shift for these awards.”

“All judges agreed the standard of entrants this year was of an incredible calibre. The decision was made not to award the Magqubu Ntombela and Ian Player award for journalists with less than two years’ experience, but we continue to support and encourage those who entered to hone their skills and enter again next year.”

The winners’ List for the SAB Environmental Media & Environmentalist of the Year Awards 2014 is as follows:

Video Media (includes Television and Online)

Winner: Karl Ammann (Independent).

Written Media (includes Print and Online)

Winner: Fiona Macleod (Oxpeckers Centre for Investigative Environmental Journalism).

Merit Winners: Andrew Stone and Bongani Fuzile (The Daily Dispatch); and Theresa Taylor (The Star).

Photography (includes Print and Online)

Winner: Adrian de Kock (Independent Newspapers).

Merit Winners: Delwyn Verasamy (Mail & Guardian); and Madelene Cronje (Mail & Guardian).

Audio Media (includes Radio and Online)

Winner: Alex Eliseev (Eyewitness News).

Merit Winner: Melini Moses (SABC Radio).

The Nick Steele Memorial Award for the SAB Environmentalist of the Year 2014

Winner: Dr. Ross Wanless (Birdlife South Africa).

“This year we took a chance and relooked the categories of old with the help of our stakeholders and presented the categories we have this year. The increase in the number of entrants is a testament that this was the right decision and we are thrilled with this year’s results,” ends Chalmers.