Lwandile Fikeni overall Arts Journalist of the Year

Tony Lankester (NAF), Michelle Constant (BASA), Lwandile Fikeni (arts journalist of the year award winner) and Gwen Ansell (head judge)

Fikeni was given a silver award in the 'Reviews' category and a gold in 'Features', with the overall award coming his way on the basis of his versatility, and his ability to write "exceptionally well" for different audiences across a range of publications.

The winners list includes ten gold and 23 silver awards made to individual journalists, and a gold and three silver awards to media organisations for their nurturing of arts journalism. Additionally, a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to broadcaster and writer Nigel Vermaas, citing his "commitment to covering music of all genres and to mentoring the next generation of arts journalists."

The National Arts Festival and Business and Arts South Africa conceptualised and launched the Awards in 2013 to acknowledge some of the excellent work being done by arts journalists in newsrooms across the country. More than 100 entries were received for the Awards, a 'significant increase on previous years, a figure that was described by the National Arts Festival, as conveners of the Awards, as '' heartening'.

Blogs, websites increase in entries

Convener of the judging panel Gwen Ansell says, "The range of writers, and the depth and commitment of the content, has been impressive. In a time when newsrooms are faced with shrinking resources, it has been encouraging to see how some newsrooms still make the effort to source original, high-quality arts writing. In addition, we're increasingly seeing relevant issues being raised by distinctive individual voices on blogs and websites."

Among the websites and blogs awarded this year, were The Con, Africa Is A Country, Litnet, The Critter and Books LIVE. City Press was given the overall Gold Media Organisation Award, the prize for which is a scholarship for one of their journalists to take part in the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF) Arts Journalism Course in early 2016. Other traditional publications such as Mail & Guardian and Sunday Times also dominated the final winners list.

"As always, the largest numbers of entries were in the review and feature categories. However, we have seen distinct growth this year in entries tackling hard news about the arts and creative industries and their debates and dilemmas. I hope that next year we will see a similar increase in entries from broadcasters and photographers: our smallest categories," concludes Ansell.

Winners

Judging Panel 2015

• Darryl Accone
  
• Gwen Ansell (Convener)
  
• Percy Mabandu
  
• Rafs Mayet
  
• Jayne Morgan
  
• Sean O'Toole
  
• Robyn Sassen
  
• Andrew Tshabangu