"We have real examples of excellence to serve as an inspiration to the profession - and to make a difference to soothing our society," remarked Professor Guy Berger, convenor of the judging panel. The judges studied 180 entries from 29 papers, drawing up a shortlist of 24 finalists and finally the eight champions of this year's competition.
The awards, sponsored by South Africa's largest newsprint supplier Mondi Paper and endorsed by the Newspaper Association of South Africa (NASA), seek to identify and encourage excellence in South African newspaper journalism. The Mondi Paper Newspaper Awards aim to acknowledge journalists in the various disciplines of newspaper journalism: News Writing, Feature Writing, Investigative Journalism, Creative and Opinionated Journalism, Graphical Journalism, Photographic and Presentation.
The winner in the News Writing category is Cape Times team Ashley Smith, Lindiz van Zilla and Tony Weaver with "Morkel: I did nothing wrong". The finalists in this category are Wisani Evidence Ngobeni (Mail and Guardian) and Melanie Gosling (Cape Times).
The winning entry in the Feature Writing category is "A bullet for an unborn baby" by The Star's Gill Gifford. Peter Machen (Independent on Saturday) and Michael Morris (Cape Argus) are the finalists in this category while Frieda le Roux of Die Burger receives a commendation.
Mail and Guardian's Wisani Evidence Ngobeni scooped first prize in the Investigative Journalism category for his entry "Spoornet boss's holiday home shame". The finalists in this section are Die Burger's Willemien Brümmer and the Cape Times team - Smith, van Zilla and Weaver.
In the category for Creative and Opinionated Journalism, the winner is Anastasia de Vries of Die Burger for "Onderwys was vir baie van ons 'n roeping, en nie sommer net 'n beroep". The finalists in this section are Sunday Independent's Jeremy Gordin and Maureen Isaacson, also from Sunday Independent.
The Graphical Journalism category winner is Hanlie Malan of Die Burger with her illustration titled "SAID kan self jou geld gryp". Finalists in this category are Gail Irwin (The Star) and Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro). Morne Schaap of Beeld and Nina Clark of The Star receive commendations.
Siphiwe Sibeko of The Star clinches the first place in the Photographic section for the second consecutive year. His winning entries comprised a series of images taken at a school for blind and visually impaired children. The finalists are Brenton Geach (Cape Argus) and Debbie Yazbek (The Star). Cape Times' Karen Retief is commended.
The judging panel selected the front page layout by Beeld's Andries Gouws titled "'Lekker Suid-Afrika!' - Toe vlieg Mark" as the winning entry in the Presentation category. Jan Morgenrood (Die Burger) and Arlene Prinsloo (Rapport) are the finalists in this category while Anne Kruger (Paarl Post), Tracey Stewart (Mail and Guardian) and Maria Combrink (The Lowvelder) receive the judges' commendations.
Guided by the criteria of agenda-setting and impact on one hand and new insight into the changing character of South Africa on the other, the judges selected Gielie de Kock of Rapport as the winner in the South African Story of the Year category for "Jan Pyp: ek soek my naam terug". Cape Times trio, Smith, van Zilla and Weaver are the runners-up in this category for their entry on Gerald Morkel.
Winners receive a golden Mondi Nib, an R8 000 cash prize and a framed certificate while the runners-up receives a framed certificate.
