Haffajee wins MTN Women in the Media Awards 2006

Ferial Haffajee, editor-in-chief, Mail & Guardian

The MTN Rising Star Award, presented to a woman under the age of 30, went to 28-year old Nikiwe Bikitsha, co-presenter of AM Live on SAfm and host of SABC3's Interface.

For the second time in the award's history, the judges elected to recognise a woman who has made a consistent contribution to the media landscape - the Lifetime Achiever Award went to Barbara Cooke, founding director of Target Group Index, who has been at the forefront of media research in this country and is recognised internationally for her groundbreaking work in this area.

The other finalists were: Ruda Landman co-anchor of Carte Blanche and a director of Media24, journalist Sue Valentine, former director, Media Programme, Open Society Foundation for South Africa, and Neo Ntsoma, an award-winning photographer with The Star.

The recipients were chosen by the editorial board of The Media magazine under whose auspices the MTN-sponsored awards are run. These outstanding women were chosen from a host of nominations representing women on the academic, commercial and content sides of the media.

Judges were Prof Govin Reddy, Dr Melanie Chait, Dr Jyoti Mistry, Libby Lloyd (last year's winner), Gordon Muller and Jos Kuper.

"MTN is proud to be associated with the MTN Women in The Media Awards which serves as a powerful initiative that celebrates women in the ever-changing media landscape. MTN is proud to honour these dynamic women who have earned recognition, through hard work, dedication and perseverance,"' says Bernice Samuels, head of MTN marketing, corporate affairs and Foundation.

Profiles of the winners

Editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian since 2004, Haffajee's career history epitomises the characteristics of the perfect candidate to lead the vital initiatives and development of the media industry. She is the first woman editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper, which has a newsroom comprising of two-thirds women. Under her editorship, the weekly has tackled ground-breaking stories. She has also become a powerfully persuasive and authoritative voice on the media.

Before becoming the Mail & Guardian's fifth editor, Ferial worked at the Financial Mail as senior editor responsible for political reporting and covered the presidency and tripartite alliance. Haffajee, who has worked as media editor, economics writer and associated editor at the Mail & Guardian, also enjoyed a stint at the SABC as radio producer and television reporter. She is also a past winner of the Sanlam financial journalism award.

Ferial is also a board member of Mail &Guardian Publishing and GenderLinks and is a member of Africa Leadership Initiative.

MTN Rising Star

Nikiwe Bikitsha is co-host of one of radio's most influential current affairs shows AM Live, and is a presenter on SABC's Interface.

She broke into the broadcast scene when she joined commercial radio station Cape Talk as an intern in 1997. She was one of the first journalists on the scene at the Planet Hollywood bombing in 1998, and covered the incident for international networks such as BBC and CNN.

In 2002, she moved to Johannesburg and joined Talk Radio 702 as a senior journalist. It was during her two-year tenure at the station that she was approached to co-host AM Live with radio veteran John Perlman.

Lifetime Achiever Award

Not many people can launch a new career at retirement age and make a success out of it but media research veteran Barbara Cooke is definitely one of them. Five years ago, she set up one of the world's leading research companies, Target Group Index (TGI), in South Africa, alongside colleague Tim Bester, under the name: The Brand Survey Company.

Today, she and Bester are still as strong as ever in serving the need for a single source media, marketing and advertising planning database.

Cooke's career as market researcher spans four-and-a-half decades and her many ground-breaking research papers on media issues presented at local and international conferences have earned her the reputation of a leading expert.

Highlights include her becoming the first woman to win the annual South Africa Marketing award - the Protea Award - in 1994, presented by the Association of Marketers.

Cooke is a founding member of the South African Market Research Association (SAMRA) and served on its national executive. She has also been vice-chairwoman of the South African Advertising and Research Foundation (SAARF) and served on its board.