All the 2008 MPASA PICA winners

MC Nataniel kept the awards ceremony flowing smoothly and speedily and the audience in stitches with his droll humour and pithy wisecracks. The lights of the Cape Town city bowl served as a glittering backdrop to the proceedings.

The 2008 awards saw a record number of entries - an increase of more than 100 over the previous year. Entries were significantly up in most publishing streams, with Visual Production of the Year attracting over 60 submissions. Theere were also seven new categories.

In terms of the results, newcomers to the industry fared well, with Pick n Pay Fresh Living (John Brown Publishing) earning the Pica award for Customer Magazine of the Year. Fairly-new-kids on the block, Mindshift (now published by IT Web) and Entrepreneur (Smart Business Solutions) scooped the Business-to-Business (B2B) Cover award and International Special Interest awards respectively. Destiny (Ndalo Media), Wild (TiP Publishing) and Mindshift (in addition to its PICA) also received Highly Commended accolades.

Consistent achiever

A consistent achiever in the B2B sector, The Dairy Mail (AgriConnect) bagged the Watling Trophy for Business-to-Business Magazine of the Year, while Weg!/Go! (Media24) took home the Rossi Trophy for Consumer Magazine of the Year.

Willemien von Solms of The Dairy Mail ended up with a PICA in each hand after winning Business-to-Business Editor of the Year towards the end of the evening. Abigail Murison of Clicks Clubcard (The Publishing Partnership) won Customer Editor of the Year, while Frith Thomas of Woman & Home (Caxton) won the Jane Raphaely Consumer Editor of the Year award. Thomas was lauded by the judges for consistently growing her title's circulation despite increasingly tough market conditions.

The Philip Tyler Trophy for Launch/Relaunch was won by Psychologies (Media24), with Highly Commended being awarded to both Intiem (Media in Africa) and Femina (Media24). Judge Muzi Kuzwayo, group CEO of TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, commented that South Africa was built on bravery - and that bravery in entering a new publishing niche was a criterion that influenced the final selection.

Publishing sector judges paid particular attention to commercial performance, to the extent that those entering the Consumer Cover category (won by Media24's Finweek) had to prove that circulation had spiked in the month in which the cover was featured. A common thread running through both MPASA chairman John Relihan's opening speech and chief judge Gisele Wertheim Aymes' summary of the standard of the 2008 submissions was the need for titles to meet the demands of newly evolving technologies and media consumption trends by extending their brands to other media platforms, particularly digital and mobile.

Exceptionally high standard

Judge Mandy de Waal, a brand and content manager, commended the Editorial Excellence entrants for the superb quality of their work, much of which “could sit comfortably alongside the best international journalism”. Fellow judge Sue Grant-Marshall - author and journalist - praised the Afrikaans magazines in particular for their exceptionally high standard - De Kat clinched three Highly Commended Awards in the Profile Writer of the Year category (won by Gavin Foster for Best Life), as well as the PICA for Feature Writer of the Year (Ilse Salzwedel). Dana Snyman of Weg! was named Travel Writer of the Year.

Paul McNally of Men's Health was named Public Interest Writer of the Year - a brand new category calling for journalism that actively exposes and tackles a topical issue, making a positive impact on society.

Visi made a clean sweep of the design categories, winning not only the Décor, Crafts, Food and Gardening publishing award, but also the journalism awards for Visual Production of the Year (Tina-Marie Malherbe) and Designer of the Year (Etienne Hanekom). Judges commended Visi for being a “benchmark magazine” that keeps setting new standards for SA design. Other hot favourites were Elle Decoration (Avusa Media) - last year's Consumer Magazine of the Year winner - and Tuis/Home (Media24), which both clinched the Highly Commended publishing accolades.

Tribute

MPASA Board director Julia Raphaely honoured Harold with a tribute composed by her mother, Jane, and PICA chief judge Gisele Wertheim Aymes shared her fond memories of working alongside Eedes on the MPASA Board. Anthea Eedes, Harold's wife, closed the tribute with a moving account of his passion for the industry, indomitable spirit and philosophical outlook.

The publisher of Wild magazine was incorrectly cited as The Publishing Partnership in the POCA Winners' Showcase magazine. The correct publishing house is TiP Publishing. MPASA regrets the error and commends the magazine on its performance at the 2008 PICA Awards.