The Avbob FCJ Excellence Awards, hosted by the Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ), was held at a gala dinner in Stellenbosch on Friday, 22 August.
This year, the awards introduced mobile phone photography as an additional category.
In total, 541 entries were received from community journalist accross South Africa.
The participants showcased their exemplary work across various categories, with pages and back pages, free newspaper of the year, hard news and compelling human-interest reportage dominating the entries.
The dedication and talent displayed by community journalists in various writing and photography categories underscore the vibrancy and diversity of community journalism in South Africa.
The adjudication process was overseen by Dr André Gouws of Akademia.
Winners were announced at a prize-giving dinner at the Protea Hotel Stellenbosch and Conference Centre, Techno Park, with top honours for journalist of the year going to the George Herald team. They are Lizette da Silva, Kristy Kolberg, Alida de Beer, and Michelle Pienaar.
Wayne van der Walt of the Highvelder took, for the third year in a row, the photographer of the year title and this year’s recipient of the Alet Roux Trophy for most promising journalist went to Lebohang Pita of the Benoni City Times.
From Novus Media Community News, of which BloemNews is a publication, the winners and journalist in the top three are:
■ Unathi Obose of City Vision − winner for vernacular reporting.
■ Samantah Lee-Jacobs (formerly) of People’s Post – second place for investigative reporting; third place for mobile phone photography and hard news.
■ Alida Buckle of Weslander – second place for mobile phone photography.
■ Eikestadnuus – third place for newspaper of the year (Free).
Avbob, through its financial investment in the FCJ and industry, and the ongoing support from Caxton and Novus Media Community News, allowed the FCJ to enrich its offering and support to community journalists.
This year a category for best mobile phone photography was added as many journalists arrive at scenes and stories and take pictures with their mobile phones. The winner was Kristy Kolberg of the George Herald.
“As a business, we believe in the value and role that community journalism plays in society. This year marks the fourth Avbob FCJ Excellence Awards where we acknowledge and celebrate outstanding work.
“We are proud of the journey we have travelled together. To us, investing in journalism is to invest in collective memory, in accountability, and in the dignity of our people,” said Nakedi Pilane, Avbob executive director of business development and financial services.
The FCJ also hosted its national seminar prior to the gala dinner and, for the first time, had a panel discussion talking about journalism and aritificial intelligence (AI). The discussion was led by Ivor Price with panellists Phathiswa Magopeni, Alet Law and Sisanda Nkoala. Adam Oxford spoke about data journalism.
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