The Star shines at Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards

Beauregard Tromp was named Mondi Shanduka South African Newspaper Journalist of the Year for his coverage of the outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa in 2008, and was described by the judges as a person who went an extra ‘many miles' in covering these events.

The South African Newspaper Journalist of the Year Award recognises outstanding performance by a newspaper journalist for work that demonstrates exceptional endeavour and world-class quality. Antoine de Ras' photographic account of the xenophobic violence almost a year ago earned him this win; he was applauded for his compelling and vivid portrayal of the huge impact the xenophobic attacks had on tens of thousands of people.

Both winners were selected from the 601 entries submitted by 37 South African newspapers. They were each presented with a Mondi Shanduka Premier Award of R15 000 cash, a trophy and a certificate.

Other winners

Kanina Foss and Alex Eliseev of The Star won the Hard News category with their ‘Secret boy's weird world', a heart-rending story about an eight-year-old boy who was kept captive by his father. Runners-up were Beeld's Amanda Roestoff and Leané du Plessis for ‘Satan sê ek moet moer', ‘Ons was bang vir hom', ‘Ons seun is geboelie', ‘Baai Jacques' and ‘Hy het sward gereeld geslyp'.

Makhudu Sefara of City Presswon the Analysis and Commentary category with his submissions ‘Better the devil we know', ‘ANC brought this on itself' and ‘Zuma's poisoned chalice'. The Weekender's Michael Bleby earned second place with his ‘Owning a piece of Mandela'.

Thabo Mkhize earned first prize in the hotly contested Feature Writing category for ‘Place to BEE' carried in the Sunday Times Lifestyle section. Runners-up were The Star's Alex Eliseev for ‘The old man in Room 21', Beeld's Elise Tempelhoff for ‘Bloederigheid tussen hul tande' and the Cape Argus' Leila Samodien for her series, ‘My little angel Adam'.

The top award for Investigative Journalism was presented to the Daily Dispatch trio - Chandre Prince, Ntando Makhubu and Lubabalo Ngcukana - for their ‘Killer water in the Ukhahlamba District Municipality'. Their 34-page entry told the story of how scores of babies died in the Eastern Cape as a result of government negligence, incompetence and cover-up. The Mail & Guardian's Sam Sole, Stefaans Brümmer and Adriaan Basson earned second place for ‘Arms firm did give cash to ANC'.

Rowan Philp of the Sunday Times won the category for Creative Journalism with his piece ‘Brassed off by the Brits', while second place was awarded to Naweek Beeld's Marida Fitzpatrick for ‘Onder 4 oë: Ben Schoeman is... ne é un Sissy'.

Jonathan ‘Zapiro' Shapiro's ‘Rape of Justice' and ‘Xenophobia Flag', which appeared in both the Sunday Times and M&G earned him a win in the Graphical Journalism category. The runners-up were Jaco Grobbelaar for ‘De ANC kan nie COPE nie' for Die Burger and Anton Vermeulen for ‘‘n Verspilde eeu van mislukte revolusies' in Rapport - Perspektief'.

Prince Chauke of the Sunday Sun won the Popular Journalism category with his pieces ‘How do you cope with ‘Doctor' Willie'? and ‘The Faker'. The runner-up was Brian Hayward for his ‘Sleepy town's sordid love scandal turns bloody' in the Weekend Post.

Photographic categories

Chris Collingridge of The Star won News Photography with ‘Kids learn lesson of hate', while Simphiwe Nkwali of the Sunday Times was made runner-up for his ‘Pleaded in vain'.

In the Feature Photography category, The Star's Jennifer Bruce impressed the judges with ‘Desperate, they board the 6.10 to safety'. The runner-up was Alon Skuy for ‘What the hell is going on?' and ‘10inTEN Your hate attacks in 10 minutes' for Jozi Weekly - The Times.

The new category for Sports Photography elicited captivating entries across a wide range of sporting activities and was won by Rapport's Deaan Vivier for his ‘Dis weer die ou Bulle!' entry. In second place was Cornél van Heerden's ‘'n Lemoen ‘n dag' in Beeld.

The M&G's Jacqueline Steeneveldt, Ricky Hunt and Sukasha Singh won the Presentation and Layout category for their ‘Mob Nation' series, while Robin Crouch of The Witness came second for ‘90-year walk'.

All these winners were presented with a Mondi Shanduka Premier Award of R15,000 cash, a trophy and a certificate.

No shortage of high quality work

Berger said there was no shortage of high quality work to choose from in selecting this year's winners.

“It was very clear that had the winning entries not been there, we would not have been left empty-handed. Far from it: other entries would have completely deserved to be given the leading place. And if these others had not been submitted, there would still have been yet another layer with legitimate claim to being the best entries.”

He said that South Africa is lucky to have the cadre of professionals that it has. “Indeed, at a time when lay-offs are troubling the industry, these journalists underline the importance of the fourth estate to a true democracy.”

Now in its eighth year, the theme of this year's competition was ‘The Obvious is the Enemy'. The rest of the judging panel comprised were Ebbe Dommisse, Obed Musi, Ivan Fynn, Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin, Juby Mayet, Phil Mtimkulu and John Dludlu.

Download The 8th Annual Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards booklet pdf.