Motoring Journalists of the Year winners list

From left: Derek Leach (TFS); Ferdi de Vos; Bernard Hellberg (SAGMJ).

It is De Vos’s fourth title as Journalist of the Year. Seagram won the event in 2012 and 2014, while Foster won the inaugural Motorcyclist of the Year category last year. De Vos, Pearce and Foster took home the silverware at a gala event held at the Birchwood Hotel near the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. The event was attended by journalists and their families, media and representatives from the automotive industry.

“This year saw a significant amount of entries across almost all of the expanded 24 categories of the competition. With a large number of entries scoring above the minimum 75% and several closely contested prizes, it is clear that the quality of automotive journalism is alive and well in South Africa,” says Bernard Hellberg, chairman of the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists.

The competition was again made possible by various prize and category sponsors and most notably Toyota Financial Services, whose major donation ensured that category winners bagged between R2,500 and R5,000, and the overall winners took home a cash prize of R10,000 each.

De Vos proved that consistency and a wide field of interest were key in winning the Journalist of the Year category. He was runner-up in the Motoring categories for Magazines, Newspapers and Digital channels, while winning the Photojournalist, the Environmental and Digital Media Motorsport categories. The Environmental category is sponsored by Bridgestone South Africa. De Vos also received a commendation for his entries in the Magazine Motorsport category and was runner-up in the Newspaper Motorsport category.

For Pearce, the road to the overall Motoring Photographer of the Year prize was paved with a win in the Motoring Photographer category and the Carlie Norval Photograph of the Year special category for the single best motoring photograph entered this year. The Carlie Norval Photograph of the Year is sponsored by Motorpress.

Foster, in turn, won the Magazine Motorsport, Magazine Motorcycles and Digital Media Motorcycles categories en route to taking the overall prize as the Motorcycle Journalist of the Year.

Special awards

Several new faces were called to the podium for special and category awards this year. Most notable was Francisco Nwamba who won the Steve Dlamini Award for Excellence in Motoring Journalism. The Award, made in honour of the late Steve Dlamini, is sponsored by Bridgestone SA and encourages top young talent with a winning purse of R10,000. All entries from journalists below 26 years old are considered for this prize.

In other special categories, Egmont Sippel won the Business, Industry and Technology Award, sponsored by the Retail Motor Industry and Charleen Clarke took home the Commercial Vehicles Award, sponsored by Hino South Africa.

Another highlight of the evening was the awarding of special industry prizes that are not judged, but compiled from votes by the SAGMJ committee, Guild members and the automotive industry. In one of these categories, Patrick O’Leary of Fleetwatch was selected Editor of the Year and the legendary Sarel van der Merwe was recognised in the Lifetime Achievement Category for his achievements in motorsport. The Chairman’s Award for Service to Motoring Journalism was not awarded this year.

And the winners are...

Category awards

Magazine (Motoring):
Winner: Ray Leathern
Runner-up: Ferdi de Vos
Highly commended: Gavin Foster, Mike Monk, Mark Smyth, Derek Watts, Nicola Furniss, Charleen Clarke, James Siddall

Newspaper (Motoring):
Winner: Egmont Sippel
Runner-up: Ferdi de Vos
Highly Commended: James Siddall, Hanjo Stier, Mark Smyth, Lerato Matebese

Digital Media (Motoring):
Winner: Egmont Sippel
Runner-up: Ferdi de Vos
Highly Commended: Ray Leathern, Hanjo Stier

Television (Motoring):
Winner: Hannes Visser
Runner-up: Waldo van der Waal
Highly Commended: Francisco Nwamba

Radio (Motoring):
Winner: Carl & Jeanette Kritzinger
Runner-up: Mark Smyth
Highly Commended: Ashref Ismail

Magazine (Motorsport):
Winner: Gavin Foster
Runner-up: Roger Houghton
Highly Commended: Ferdi de Vos

Newspaper (Motorsport):
Winner: Egmont Sippel
Runner-up: Ferdi de Vos
Highly Commended: Reuben van Niekerk

Digital Media (Motorsport):
Winner: Ferdi de Vos
Runner-up: Egmont Sippel

Television (Motorsport):
Winner: Plan-C Productions
Runner-up: Hannes Visser
Highly Commended: Waldo van der Waal

Radio (Motorsport):
Winner: Neels Rabe, Patrick Vermaak, Nick van der Meulen

Magazine (Motorcycles):
Winner: Gavin Foster
Runner-up: Clive Strugnell
Highly Commended: Hein Eksteen

Newspaper (Motorcycles):
No winner

Digital Media (Motorcycles):
Winner: Gavin Foster

Television (Motorcycles):
No entries received in this category

Radio (Motorcycles):
Winner: Carl & Jeanette Kritzinger
Runner-up: Johann van Tonder

Photojournalist:
Winner: Ferdi de Vos
Runner-up: Ian Groat
Highly Commended: Chris Wall

Photographer (Motoring):
Winner: Seagram Pearce
Runner-up: Matteo Conti

Photographer (Motorsport):
Winner: Waldo van der Waal

Photographer of the Year (Motorcycles):
Winner: Jay Groat

Individual awards

Bridgestone SA Environmental Award:
Winner: Ferdi de Vos

Road Safety Award:
Winner: Mark Smyth

Road Ecology:
No entries received in this category

RMI Business, Industry & Technology Award:
Winner: Egmont Sippel

Hino SA Commercial Vehicles Award:
Winner: Charleen Clarke

Motorpress Carlie Norval Photograph of the Year:
Winner: Seagram Pearce

Bridgestone SA Steve Dlamini Award for Excellence In Motoring Journalism:
Winner: Francisco Nwamba

Editor of the Year:
Patrick O’Leary

The SAGMJ Chairman’s Award for Service to Motoring Journalism:
Not awarded in 2016

The SAGMJ Lifetime Achievement Award:
Sarel van der Merwe

Motorcycle Journalist of the Year 2016:
Gavin Foster

Photographer of the Year 2016:
Seagram Pearce

Motoring Journalist of the Year 2016:
Ferdi de Vos