McCall, Joel Mervis and Frewin competitions winners

This year the number of entries for the competitions increased by nine, with a total of 16 dailies and 31 weeklies, of which 14 were community newspapers. The winners were announced at the Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards ceremony.

The competitions, organised 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 Clive Loxton from the AAA School of Advertising, Kerry Swift from Rhodes University, Logan Naidu from the Cross Media Training Centre and Prof Govin Reddy visiting professor at Rhodes University.

The winners in their respective categories are:
Frewin Competition - this competition has been in existence for the past 56 years and recognises all urban daily newspapers irrespective of their circulation:
1st - The Witness
(Publisher: Natal Witness Printing & Publishing (Pty) Ltd, Total Score: 88 points)
2nd - Business Day (BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd , 80 points)
3rd - The Mercury (Independent Newspapers: KwaZulu-Natal , 77 points)
4th - Die Burger (Media 24, 73 points)

McCall Competition - this competition has been in existence for the past 44 years and
recognises urban daily newspapers with a circulation below 50 000:
1st - The Witness
(Publisher: Natal Witness Printing & Publishing (Pty) Ltd, Total Score: 88 points)
2nd - Business Day (BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd , 80 points)
3rd - The Mercury (Independent Newspapers: KwaZulu-Natal , 77 points)
4th - The Herald (Johnnic Communications: Eastern Cape, 69 points)

Joel Mervis Competition - this competition has been in existence for the past 10 years and
recognises urban weekly newspapers irrespective of their circulation:
1st - Weekend Witness
(Publisher: Natal Witness Printing & Publishing (Pty) Ltd, Total Score: 95 points)
2nd - Rapport (RCP Media, 91 points)
Joint 3rd Place:
Mail & Guardian (M & G Media, 90 points)
Sunday Independent (Independent Newspapers, 90 points)
4th - Naweek Beeld (Media 24, 89 points)