New category for SAB Sports Media Awards

Entries close at 5pm on Wednesday 19 September for work produced between 1 August 2011 and 31 August 2012. Winners will be announced at an awards function on the evening of Thursday 8 November 2012 at the Wanderers Cricket Club in Johannesburg.

"After last year's awards, we spent time engaging with various stakeholders to get their feedback and input," says Robyn Chalmers, head of media and communications for SAB.

"This knowledge was then distilled into a workable plan that included the introduction of several new judges, revised categories and our new online entry portal where entrants can register and upload their entries and our judges can login, download and score."

Nominations from sporting media fraternity

Another innovation is to use the portal to invite nominations from the sporting media fraternity for a number of awards that will complement the existing ones. Both the portal and the judging process will be fully audited by Grant Thornton.

"Our Hall of Fame Award, Newcomer of the Year Award and Sports Personality of the Year Award all need input from outside the judging panel. We are therefore appealing to all sports editors and sports journalists to register, login and nominate who they believe should win these accolades."

Although physical entries will still be accepted and subsequently loaded onto the new competition portal under the auspices of the auditors, competition entrants are encouraged to use the online system to enter any of the following sub-categories to stand a chance of winning the overall Sports Media prize of R25 000 per category.

Categories

• Print

  • Feature Writer of the Year
    
  • Columnist of the Year
    
  • News Reporter of the Year
    
  • Overall Winner: Print Contributor of the Year

• Photography

  • Action Shot of the Year
    
  • Overall Winner: Photographic Contributor of the Year

• New Media

  • Social Media Correspondent of the Year
    
  • Sports Blogger of the Year
    
  • Overall Winner: New Media Contributor of the Year

• Radio

  • Sports News Reporter of the Year
    
  • Sports Commentator of the Year
    
  • Sports Presenter of the Year
    
  • Overall Winner: Radio Contributor of the Year

• Television

  • Sports News Reporter of the Year
    
  • Sports Commentator of the Year
    
  • Sports Presenter of the Year
    
  • Sports Producer of the Year

  • Overall Winner: Television Contributor of the Year

As part of this year's Awards, Castle Lager has launched "The Castle Lager Superfan Moment of the Year" as an additional category. This award is across all disciplines and will be awarded to the candidate who best captures fans or people who have been brought together by sport. This prize is also worth R25 000 for the winning entrant.

For more, go to www.SABsportsmedia.co.za.