Internationally recognised law firm Adams & Adams is set to partner with the Magazine Publishers Association of SA in awarding the Individual Categories at this year's 42nd annual PICA Awards. These prestigious awards recognise and reward publishing excellence in the business-to-business, custom and consumer sectors of the South African publishing industry.
Adams & Adams has been protecting the fruits of their clients' creativity in the form of trade marks, copyright, designs, and patents for over 100 years.
"We're passionate about supporting home-grown talent," says Mariette du Plessis, partner at Adams & Adams. "Whether it's visual messaging or the written word we are dedicated to protecting our country's creative voices, which is what gives the partnership between the PICAs and Adams & Adams such resonance. These collaborations are an essential part of protecting the democratic process."
There are 12 Individual categories this year, including: best photojournalist, best profile writer, best public interest, non-professional writer, health and wellness writer, layout artist, social media writer, travel writer, trade and technical writer and visual production of the year.
According to du Plessis the enormity of the talent of the writers, photographers and visual artists working on South Africa's magazines is often underestimated.
It's for this reason that the law firm will be rolling out a series of workshops in Cape Town and Johannesburg which will provide members of the magazine fraternity with information pertaining to the legalities of copyright, contracts and all the other professional skills they'll need in their professional lives.
Adams & Adams Chairman Dario Tanziani says: "We are delighted to partner with the talented individuals from South Africa's magazine industry. All too often these are the people who through lack of awareness, or for other reasons, lose rights and revenues which are rightfully theirs. Hopefully we can prevent that."
The Adams & Adams and MPASA collaboration follows the distinguished law firm's recent sponsorship of the 2011 Loerie Awards Young Creatives Category.
