Caxton dominates Newspaper of the Year categories at AVBOB FCJ Excellence Awards

Caxton newspapers dominated at last night’s AVBOB FCJ Excellence Awards for 2021 with the majority of the Newspaper of the Year categories won by Caxton titles.

For the second consecutive year two of the top awards were received by the same winners as 2020.

Also read: Caxton excels at FCJ Annual Excellence Awards

Samantha Lee-Jacobs from People’s Post was again announced as the Journalist of the Year and Caxton journalist Jarryd Westerdale from Roodepoort Record again received the Alet Roux Award for the most promising journalist.

Etienne van Rensburg from Vaalweekblad was announced as the Photographer of the Year and the Randburg Sun was the winner of a new category, the AVBOB Best Community Involvement Award for its project titled Hero of the Month.

For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, the Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) again hosted its annual awards in person on Thursday, October 14 at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre in Boksburg, Gauteng.

This year the FCJ gained the support of a new title sponsor AVBOB which, through its investment in the forum and industry, showed its acknowledgement of the role of community journalists in society and its support of excellent journalism.

Also read: Forum attracts new sponsor to acknowledge excellence in community journalism

“We live in an era of fake news and ‘alternative facts’ with a plethora of unregulated platforms and social media channels designed to push unseen agendas to the unsuspecting consumer. And so, in this time, your role and purpose as journalists to be a source of credible and objective news and information cannot be overstated,” said Carl van der Riet, CEO of AVBOB.

“The community journalist has the privilege of telling the reader’s story on the best day of the reader’s life – when the reader wishes to share the news of a son or a daughter who has won a gold medal. We have a huge responsibility of telling the same reader’s story on their worst day – when there is the need to speak out about an injustice or the loss of a loved one. As community journalists we carry that privilege and responsibility in our hearts and execute it in our storytelling,” said Executive Director of the FCJ and Caxton editor, Marietta Lombard.

The FCJ’s loyal sponsors Media24 and Caxton enabled the forum to host a national seminar with guest speakers Reg Rumney and André Gouws prior to the gala dinner.

Also read: Forum of Community Journalists concerned about journos’ safety

Front pages and Newspaper of the Year

Berea Mail won the Best Front Page Corporate-owned Free category followed by Carletonville Herald in second and Rekord Centurion in third place.

Newcastle Advertiser was announced as winner of the Best Front Page Corporate-owned Paid category and South Coast Herald took third place.

Newspaper of the Year Corporate-owned free (pagination 24 and less) was won by Krugersdorp News followed by Roodepoort Record in second place. Northcliff Mellville Times took fourth spot in this category.

The corporate-owned free (pagination 24 and more) category was won by Fourways Review and its sister publication, Randburg Sun took third place with Bedfordview and Edenvale News in fourth.

Vaalweekblad took top spot in the corporate-owned paid (circulation under 5 000) category with Polokwane Review taking third place and Northern Natal Courier in fourth and Ladysmith Gazette in fifth place.

The top five spots in the Corporate-owned paid (circulation 5 000 and more) category were all taken by Caxton titles with Lowvelder in first place, South Coast Herald second, Newcastle Advertiser third, Witbank News fourth and African Reporter in fifth place.

Writing and photography

Caxton writers and photographers also excelled with Zululand Observer’s team dominating the editorial comment category. Ronelle Ramsamy was announced as winner followed by her colleague Dave Savides in second place. Savides also won the headlines category with Van Rensburg announced as runner-up.

Gerda Bruinette from Vaalweekblad took the top spot in the columns category while her colleague at the same newspaper, Christiaan Cloete, won the digital reporting category.

Zita Goldswain from Witbank News was announced as runner-up in investigative reporting with Cloete featured in the top five of this demanding news category.

Goldswain took second place in the general photos category and Wayne van der Walt from Highvelder took third place.

Also read: Bedfordview Edenvale NEWS wins best front page award, places in top 3 for newspaper of the year

Elsje Vermeulen from Vaalweekblad won the hard news photo category followed by Goldswain in second place. Van der Walt was runner up in sports photography followed by Vermeulen in third place.

Westerdale, winner of the Alet Roux prize, performed consistently well in all categories as he not only featured in the top 10 of digital reporting, human interest and sports writing but also showcased his versatility as storyteller by making the top five in sports photography.

Van Rensburg, the Photographer of the Year, showcased his skills as sports storyteller as he won the writing and photo categories of this news beat.