The criteria for these prestigious newspaper industry publishing awards, organised by the Newspaper Association of South Africa, were set by the industry to encourage and recognise publishers who excel in producing quality products to the industry. This year, for the first time in the history of the competition, three of the finalists in the Frewin competition are newspapers with a circulation less than 50 000.
The competitions recognise newspaper excellence in all areas of disciplines, from advertising, to print and production, to layout and typography, to the balance between the use of pictures and graphics.
This year's judging panel consisted of Clive Loxton from the AAA School of Advertising, Kerry Swift from Rhodes University, Logan Naidu from the Cross Media Training Centre and Prof Govin Reddy visiting professor at Rhodes University.
"As in previous years we had a flood of entries this year and our congratulations to the winners who can stand proud as we believe they rank with some of the best in the world. However, what is of some concern is that winners and runners-up, in many categories, are becoming predictable. That is not good for the competition and not good for the industry. But it does throw a challenge to others with resources and potential to mount a stronger challenge next year," said Professor Reddy, convenor of judges in the 2005 Frewin, McCall and Joel Mervis competitions.
The finalists in the industry's most prestigious awards in no order of preference are:
Frewin Competition - this competition has been in existence for the past 56 years and recognises all urban daily newspapers irrespective of their circulation:
McCall Competition - this competition has been in existence for the past 44 years and recognises urban daily newspapers with a circulation of 50 000 or less:
Joel Mervis Competition - this competition has been in existence for the past 10 years and recognises urban weekly newspapers irrespective of their circulation:
A total of 16 dailies and 31 weeklies of which 14 were community newspapers entered this year's competition. The winners will be announced at the Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards ceremony scheduled to take place on April 20, 2005.
Newspaper Association of South Africa
Cathy Pestana
Tel: (011) 721-3200
