According to Gill Randall, joint MD of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau (NAB), Caxton's in-house sales arm, there are two reasons for hosting these awards.
"We believe in rewarding staff"
"The ongoing success of our community newspapers relies on the individual products remaining relevant to the communities they report on and, secondly, we believe in rewarding staff who continually raise the excellence bar to ensure that their newspapers are precisely what their respective readers, and advertisers, are looking for," she explains.
This year's Newspaper Journalist of the Year, Best Investigative Journalist and Best Sports Writer went to Landé Willemse of Lowvelder, the 2010 winner of the Caxton/Citizen News Service Best Contribution award. The judges accredited Lande's versatility - thorough research, excellent writing in both English and Afrikaans and attention-grabbing introductions - as the underlying factors to her success. She won R30 000.
Best Field Salesperson of the Year Caroline McPherson also won R30 000; she was also part of the winning teams for Best Medium-sized Newspaper Ad and Best Major Advertising Feature or Supplement.
In the Caxton News Service category, winner Nicolene Smalman of Lowvelder received a R5000 cheque and runner-up Judi Davis of the South Coast Herald a R3000 cheque.
Other big winners include:
Editorial judges for the awards included Dr Pedro Diederichs, HoD Journalism at Tshwane University of Technology; Martin Williams, editor of The Citizen; Steven Motale, executive editor of the Pretoria News; and veteran journalist Ingrid Pepler.
All the winners
| Category | Award | Name | Publication | Entry | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switchboard Operator of the Year | Winner | Florence Haywood | Lowveld Media | The judges found her informative, helpful, calm, and willing to listen when they called - which, to thoroughly test her mettle, was several times! | |
| Credit Controller of the Year | Winner | Eldrie Grobler | Caxton East Rand | The standard of debt collecting on our community newspapers is, arguably, the best it has ever been so the competition was fierce. Our worthy winner not only met the challenge but showed dedication in achieving excellence. | |
| Ad Designer of the Year | Winner | Marietjie Pretorius | Northern Media Group | Marietjie's visually striking designs, strong layouts, her good concepts and dashing use of colour wowed the judges. | |
| Best Small Newspaper Ad | Winner | Karmen Pillay | South Coast Herald | "Forklift" | Karmen's copy stands out on the page. The visual supports the message and everything the reader needs to know is covered. |
| Best Medium-sized Newspaper Ad | Winner | Dudu Debuza, Lisa de Beer & Catherine McPherson | Leisure Options | "Italian at its Best" | The beautiful visuals unambiguously "speake de Italiano" and compellingly promise good, classy Italian food. |
| Best Large Newspaper Ad | Highly commended | Melanie Govender & Louise Jordaan | South Coast Herald | "Hail Damage Repairs" | |
| Best Medium Magazine Ad | Winner | Charmaine Heath | Zululand Observer | "Stay Sober" & "One is Too Many" | Charmaine's winning ads stood out for her clever use of copy and striking choice of visuals. |
| Best Large Magazine Ad | Winner | Theresa Botha | Zululand Observer | "Wasted - Drugs will Change You" | All the finalists produced interesting, well-thought-out work with clever use of copy, typography and imagery. Theresa's was the entry most likely to compel the reader to pay attention and react. |
| Best Advertorial or Promotion | Winner | Mirelle Jacobs & Melanie Reeder | Lowveld Get It | "Ask the Expert" | Mirelle and Melanie's SuperSpar food advertorials made the judges salivate through their well-executed layout and scrumptious editorial. |
| Caxton News Service | Nicolene Smalman | Lowvelder | The Caxton Newspaper reporters supply stories of national interest to the Caxton News Service for their sister daily newspaper The Citizen. The best contributors are recognised for their dedication and effort. Nicolene has a nose for news of national importance and excellent writing skills. The speed with which she feeds stories to the Citizen often enables the paper to run circles around the opposition. | ||
| Caxton News Service | Runner-up | Judi Davis | South Coast Herald | Judi Davis is a regular contributor to The Citizen. Her stories are always fresh, well-written and a great read. Her willingness to write especially for them scores her bucket loads of brownie points at the Citizen. | |
| Best Regular Pull-Out Supplement | Winner | Mpumalanga Mirror | Distributed as a supplement in all Caxton's major titles across the province every second week and with a print order of 158 000, the relevance of this product in the province is clear. Not surprisingly the amount of government advertising it attracts is significant. The ground-breaking work the Mirror is doing is a model for other provinces. | ||
| Best Regular Pull-Out Supplement | Highly commended | Joburg North's Leisure Options | |||
| Best Regular Pull-Out Supplement | Special mention | Zululand Observer's Autodealer | |||
| Best Regular Column | Winner | Martin Paul | Newcastle Advertiser | Martin's columns are well-written and delightful to read but have a hard-hitting message that comes through loud and colourful! | |
| Best Investigative Journalist | Winner | Landé Willemse | Lowvelder | The judges felt the quality of the winning entry in this important category of reporting was exceptional. Therefore just being selected as a finalist was no mean feat. Landé's empathetic investigation into the impact of a delay in a child abuse trial shows exceptional journalism skills. Her entry was described by the judges as the best ever in this category. | |
| Best Headline Writing | Winner | Cathy Grosvenor | Springs Advertiser | Cathy's headlines have humour and impact and she is a master with words. Her puns work, which is a key ingredient of her success! | |
| Best Sport Writing | Winner | Landé Willemse | Lowvelder | Landé writes knowledgably and with infectious enthusiasm, especially about rugby, horses and cycling. She has a special talent for setting the scene, uses quotes to great effect and her presentation of results leaves nothing unanswered. | |
| Best Sport Writing | Highly commended | Johann Gresse | Middelburg Observer | ||
| Best Sport Writing | Highly commended | Siyabonga Mchunu | South Coast Herald | ||
| Best Free Newspaper, less than 24 pages | Winner | Northcliff /Melville Times, with Kennedy Mudzuli | This newspaper has great headlines, well-presented front pages, striking headline fonts and strong lead stories. The layout is effective, vibrant and neat. News is hyper-local and photos are well-used. | ||
| Best Free Newspaper, more than 24 pages | Winner | Fourways Review, with Kennedy Mudzuli | With eye-catching headlines, neatly packaged front pages and a clear point of entry on each page, the presentation is extremely impressive. A worthy winner. | ||
| Best Sold Newspaper, circulation less than 8000 | Winner | Ladysmith Gazette, with Rod Skinner | The quality of the entries in this category this year was significantly higher than it has been for the past few years - so well done to all concerned. There can only be one winner and tThe Ladysmith Gazette boasts striking front pages, great pics, lively headlines, strong local content and active community involvement. A well-deserved winner. | ||
| Best Sold Newspaper, circulation more than 8000 | Winner | South Coast Herald, with Colleen Haggard | A wonderful example of a community paper. Expertly presented and loaded to the brim with local faces and news, the Herald is clearly a force to be reckoned with in its community. | ||
| Special Award | Winner | Jennifer Kwakwa | Midrand Reporter | Jennifer joined the Midrand Reporter as a cleaner but soon progressed to being receptionist. Before long she was also "domestic cashier", booking adverts, dealing with cash and receipts and doing daily banking. In 2009, when the Midrand Reporter's journalists moved to Craighall, Jennifer took charge, sub-let the existing offices and found more suitable smaller premises - saving the company in excess of R5000 per month. She also arranged for the signage to be moved and redundant furniture to be disposed of. Always 'bok' for a new challenge she has recently taken on updating and maintaining the LookLocal database as well. Having started off as a cleaner, Jennifer has effectively become - and is affectionately known as - the MD of the Midrand Reporter! | |
| Special Award | Winner | Martin Paul | Newcastle Advertiser | Martin joined the media world in 1989 as a general reporter at the Germiston City News but soon rose through the ranks to become editor of the North Eastern Tribune. In 1997 he became editor of the Newcastle Advertiser and besides winning numerous personal awards; on his watch the paper won the best front page at the Sanlam Awards and best sold Newspaper at the Caxton Awards. Since then he has become Northern KZN group editor and the deputy branch manager, proving himself to be one of the few newspapermen able to straddle both journalism and management effectively. Martin is a giver, not a taker, and though at heart he shuns the limelight, he is natural leader. At group level he became a key role player in the ongoing drive to improve editorial standards and represented Caxton at numerous press forums. His ability to identify and train quality staff is legendary and the Caxton Editors' Style Book which he compiled in 2007 will be a lasting legacy. Martin has been a pillar of strength in the Caxton Group and will be very sorely missed [as he is leaving the company soon to return to the UK where he was born] | |
| Best Non-Editorial Advertising Feature | Winner | Hanlie Lombaard | Lowvelder | "Who's Who" | Excellent community involvement with great use of characters. Not only a feature with a wonderful fun element but a good financial model to boot. |
| Best Major Advertising Feature or Supplement | Winner | Jody Scott, Ilani Vonk, Lauren Oosthuizen & Catherine McPherson | Joburg North's Get It | "Cresta Gift Guide" | Well-executed, visually appealing, with easy to follow design and layout. Embracing QR Code technology set it apart from the other finalists. |
| Best Overall Promotion of a Publication | Winner | Bloemfontein Courant, with Rene Koen | These two entries really stood out for DIRECTLY promoting their products. The thoroughness of their conceptualisation and the brilliance of their execution were outstanding. Bloemfontein Courant gets top marks for its innovative and remarkable re-branding campaign. | ||
| Best Overall Promotion of a Publication | Winner | Leisure Options, with Kym Argo | and Leisure Options for Leisure Options gets top marks for its iconic Best of Joburg campaign, which this year rose to new heights and generated widespread coverage on radio and TV. | ||
| Best Overall Promotion of a Publication | Highly commended | Benoni City Times | 90th Birthday Campaign | ||
| Best Overall Promotion of a Publication | Highly commended | East Rand | LookLocal campaign | ||
| Best Original Idea | Winner | Brendon Carpenter & Margaret Smith | Joburg North's LookLocal | QR Code Button Badges | A novel way to attract viewers to the mobile LookLocal website. Get a brightly coloured button, scan it with your smartphone and Voila! You're automatically directed to the LookLocal mobile website! An idea that is fresh and really original! |
| Regional Manager of the Year | Winner | Roland Kolesky | Middleburg Hub | Roland has grown enormously in the job since becoming manager and this year produced a bumper growth in profits on an already high base. | |
| Regional Manager of the Year | Highly commended | Hannes Cilliers | Northern Media | Another tip top performance from last year's winner. | |
| Metropolitan Manager of the Year | Highly commended | Albert Basson | Capital Media, Pretoria | For a few years now Albert has produced sparkling results well above the Gauteng trend | |
| Urban Manager of the Year | Winner | Vijay & Reenesh Maharaj | Rising Sun, Durban | Despite operating in a fiercely competitive market, Vijay and Reenesh managed to increase their profit to sales, direct sales and net profit by percentages which would have stood out even in the heydays before the recession. | |
| Best Portrait Photograph | Winner | Gerhard Rheeder | Middelburg Observer | "'n Tent is Hul Woning" | This real-life scenario - of a poor white South African family who call this place home and live in the tents, a stone's throw away from an affluent neighbourhood - works as an environmental portrait. It engages the reader. |
| Best Portrait Photograph | Highly commended | Zakithi Dlamini | Highway Mail | "Home is where the Heart Is" | |
| Best Portrait Photograph | Highly commended | Tracy Holmwood | Northern Review | "Gentle Giant" | |
| Best Feature Photograph | Winner | Michael Paterson | North Coast Courier | "Borat on the Beach" | The interaction between humans and animals make this a timeless image. The pic captures a lovely moment which will still be interesting 50 years on! |
| Best Feature Photograph | Highly commended | Martin Paul | Newcastle Advertiser | "Wisdom" | |
| Best Feature Photograph | Highly commended | Suzette van Huyssteen | Rekord Oos | "Lappiesland" | |
| Best Hard News Photograph of the Year | Winner | Yasseen Gaffar | Middelburg Observer | "Shoot to Kill" | A great hard-news image, well-xposed and well-composed. It's an unusual photograph of a dramatic moment. The expressions and the bizarre scene make it a winner! |
| Best Hard News Photograph of the Year | Highly commended | Zita Goldswain | Witbank News | "Dis my Pappa" | |
| Best Hard News Photograph of the Year | Highly commended | Abrie Bronkhorst | Potchefstroom Herald | "Hou Uit, Hou Moed" | |
| Best Sport Photograph | Winner | Ettienne van Rensburg | Vaalweekblad | "Try Time" | An excellent action photo, well-seen and -executed with spot on framing. |
| Best Sport Photograph | Highly commended | Jannie du Plessis | Vaalweekblad | "Hang in There" | |
| Best Sport Photograph | Highly commended | Kobus Robbertze | Bloemfontein Courant | "Admiration" | |
| Most Promising Journalist of the Year | Winner | Ernest Wolmarans | Springs Advertiser | A versatile portfolio with excellent follow-ups. Ernest tackles profiles and hard news with the equal gusto! He will go far! | |
| Best LookLocal Site | Winner | LookLocal Lowveld | Judging was done by Rhodes digital guru Jude Mathurine and his honours students. It was a tough process adjudicating 31 sites but the top three in their book currently are: Bedfordview Edenvale, Benoni and Lowveld. All three sites deserve kudos for consistent growth in unique users and impressions, as well as news content curation and publishing using the muscle of Facebook and Twitter. Proactive and conversational approaches to social media encouraged user contributions and collaboration which had a clear effect on traffic. The Lowveld LookLocal demonstrated the importance not just of making content 'web-ready' but web readable. In several instances, they followed the maxim: "Publish the best and link to the rest" by connecting users to value added content. | ||
| Best Get It Cover | Winner | Get It Cape Town | This fantastic cover captures the region's setting, lifestyle and mood of the season. The excellent coverlines are very relevant to the target market. | ||
| Best Get It Cover | Highly commended | Get It Potch/Klerksdorp/Parys | |||
| Best Get It Cover | Highly commended | Get It Lowveld | |||
| Best Get It Magazine | Winner | Get It Lowveld, with Melanie Reeder, Mirelle Jacobs, Annie Lindeque, Hennie Homann, Benno Stander, Orpa Claasen, Irma Green & Jenni Semmens | Filled with diverse content, strong visuals and an edgy, interesting design. A good blend of interesting local lifestyle issues and great advertising support. The magazine flows beautifully and is a slick read | ||
| Best Get It Magazine | Highly commended | Get It Cape Town, with Ellen Raubenheimer | |||
| Get It Journalist of the Year | Winner | Samantha Richardson | Get It Joburg North & Pretoria | Samantha entered a top-notch portfolio of personality pieces that were well-structured, -planned and -written. | |
| Best Telesalesperson of the Year | Winner | Preshni Naidoo | Highway Mail | Preshni's performance ticked all the right judging-criteria boxes. Her product knowledge and her ability to probe clients and match their needs with Caxton's features and benefits make her a very worthy winner. | |
| Field Salesperson of the Year | Winner | Catherine McPherson | Joburg North | The judges were impressed by Catherine's product knowledge, ability to cross sell, professionalism, confidence and determination. Catherine has the client's interests at heart and is more than a salesperson - she acts as a consultant. A Caxton Brand ambassador out of the top drawer! | |
| Newspaper Journalist of the Year | Winner | Landé Willemse | Lowvelder | Versatility, thorough research, excellent writing in both English and Afrikaans and attention- grabbing intros are make Landé a worthy winner. She is an excellent and effective community journalist with her finger on the pulse! |
For more:
Updated at 4.33pm on 30 March 2012.
