Finalists announced in newspaper excellence awards

"Overall, a fairly impressive list of entries this year. However, the gap between the best and not so good has not narrowed. While the winners and runners-up are up there with the best in the world, far too many of our newspapers are not rigorous enough in trying to reach acceptable standards in all key elements that contribute to quality in newspaper design," said Professor Govin Reddy, convener of judges in the 2004 Frewin, McCall and Joel Mervis competitions.

The competitions, organized by the Newspaper Association of South Africa, recognise newspaper excellence in all areas of disciplines from advertising, to print and production, to layout and typography, to the balance between the use of pictures and graphics.

This year's judging panel consisted of Jon Drake from Ogilvy and Mather, Harry Ferner from the ACA School of Advertising, Logan Naidu from the Cross Media Training Centre and Prof Govin Reddy, visiting professor at Rhodes University.

The finalists in the industry's most prestigious awards in no order of preference are:

Frewin Competition

This competition has been in existence for the past 55 years and recognises all urban daily newspapers irrespective of their circulation. Finalists:
Beeld
Daily Sun
Die Burger

McCall Competition

This competition has been in existence for the past 43 years and recognises urban daily newspapers with a circulation of 50 000 or less. The finalists are:
Cape Times
The Witness
This Day

Joel Mervis Competition

This competition has been in existence for the past nine years and recognises urban weekly newspapers irrespective of their circulation, finalists:
Weekend Witness
Naweek Beeld
Mail & Guardian
Rapport

Reddy went on to say that. "This year there were more entries from community newspapers. Some were impressive, most were mediocre and a few quite atrocious. Since most community newspapers operate with limited budgets and resources, it may be advisable to create a separate category for community newspapers. To pit a community newspaper against the Sunday Times, is akin to putting Mike Tyson and Dingaan Thobela in the same ring!"

A total of 18 dailies and 27 weeklies of which seven were community newspapers, entered this year's competition. The winners will be announced at an award ceremony scheduled to take place on November 11, 2004.