Print and Digital Media South Africa Award finalists named

The awards recognise newspaper excellence in advertising, printing and production, layout and typography as well as the balanced use of pictures and graphics. The Frewin Awards has been in existence for 67 years and the McCall Award for 55 years.

Frewin

• Citizen
  
• Beeld
  
• Die Burger

McCall

• Volksblad
  
• The Witness
  
• The Mercury

Joel Mervis

• Mail &Guardian
  
• Rapport
  
• Naweek Beeld
  
• City Press

Convener of judges was Clive Loxton, Creative faculty head of the AAA School of Advertising and fellow judges included Logan Naidu, Tebogo Serabatse and Linda Rademan. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony that will take place at the end of July or early August in Johannesburg.

The standard is very consistent with last year, as are the entries, says Loxton. “The entries that always win stand out for their attention to detail and this year was no different.”

“In general, the entries reflect the times that we are living in. It is tough out there, especially for newspapers. With half the population in South Africa under 25 years old and not in the habit of reading a newspaper, this does not bode well for the sector.

“However, considering the economic times, it is encouraging to see that shareholders are still investing time and effort in the quest for excellence. The standards were still high and the people who work in newspapers still care very much about their craft.”

The sports section, use of illustrations and typography are all areas that impressed and have improved over the years. “The one common thread with the winners is that they all use images effectively. I would encourage newspapers to use bigger pictures, as pictures make an enormous impact.

Mostly this year’s entries and entries numbers were not surprising, with the exception of one or two well-known newspapers that did not enter this year.