Finweek journalist is the Telkom Classic Business 'Journalist of the Year'

The R75 000 award and trophy were presented to him by Telkom CEO Pinky Moholi and National Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Moholi at a ceremony in Hyde Park.

"The Journalist of the Year awards are unique to South Africa in that entries do not need to be submitted, but are selected from published financial writing in print and on the internet," said Classic Business anchor John Fraser, who is the convenor of the awards.

"These are the second awards. Last year's winner was Rob Rose of the Sunday Times."

The judges were Chris Gilmour from Absa Investments, Jeremy Sampson from Interbrand Sampson and Simon Brown from JustOneLap.com.

Ashton was commended by the judges for his authoritative coverage of the small business sector and also for an analysis of the technology interests of business tycoon Johann Rupert.

He also won a sectoral award for his coverage of small business and the Telkom Classic Business Journalist of the Month for May 2010 and February 2011.

Fellow Finweek journalists, Vic de Klerk and Troye Lund, were also winners in the Telkom Classic Journalist of the Month category and Vic de Klerk was awarded as joint winner in the personal finance and money category.