Johnnic's magazine division delivered wins for three of its titles at the annual Sappi Pica Awards - ELLE, SoccerLife 442 and SA Livestock Breeding 2004 and was highly commended in five categories, including the prestigious Excellence in Magazine Design for Elle Decoration.
"It is particularly gratifying that we've received accolades in all three principal categories - consumer, customer and business-to-business publishing - and serves to vindicate our focus on identifying and optimising viable niche opportunities. The consolidation and subsequent reinvestment in our business divisions too, are bearing pleasing results with the recognition given to titles such as Pursuit which has undergone a complete revamp, both in terms of editorial presentation and marketing approach," says publisher Gisèle Wertheim Aymés.
Both the consumer division's newest title, SoccerLife 442 which was launched in March this year, and well-established fashion title ELLE, received particularly high praise from the judges who concurred that both illustrated the keen ability of savvy publishers to localise South African versions of major international titles with great success, one of the key positive industry trends to emerge from this year's awards.
Now in their 35th year, the SAPPI PICA Awards are the only industry accolade that recognises all aspects of publishing excellence in the magazine industry. Magazines are evaluated on their editorial and design content as well as the calibre of their total marketing process.
