MAKHADO - The annual Sanlam Awards for Community Press, the Nissan Capro Awards and the first ever AIP (Association of Independent Publishers) Media Innovation Awards were once again proof that the Zoutnet group of newspapers can compete against the best the South African community newspaper industry has to offer.

The Zoutpansberger and its sister publication, the Limpopo Mirror, were among the 197 other community newspapers from across the country who entered for the 14th annual Sanlam Awards, the biggest journalistic competition in a total of 32 in South Africa. The awards ceremony took place at the Sandton Sun and Towers Hotel in Sandton over the past weekend.

In the Sanlam Awards, the team from the Zoutpansberger won an overall sixth, fifth and third place in the category for Advertisement of the Year. The team also scooped up a third place for loose theme pages, as well as a fourth place for promotional pages (single client) and a fifth place for advertisements smaller than a quarter page. The Limpopo Mirror also did extremely well by finishing fifth overall in the category for best front pages (paid publications).

The news editor of the Zoutpansberger, Andries van Zyl, also received mention. He finished ninth overall in the hard news category and secured himself a fourth place in the local government category.

“Any winner or mentioned journalist in this competition should feel flattered indeed. He or she achieved something very special, because there were 1 635 individual entries from 482 journalists,” the judges remarked.

In the first ever AIP Media Innovation Awards, Zoutnet can pride itself on winning a first and second place. The innovation awards are not the usual type of media awards that recognise editorial excellence by individual journalists, but rather focus on the nut-and-bolts business aspect of publishing. Zoutnet’s Ad Booker won first place in the Innovative Management/Business Systems category. Ad Booker is an innovative, but simple, web-based advertising booking system. In the Innovative Editorial/Content Systems category, Zoutnet’s Press Store File Repository was runner-up. This low-cost system allows multiple independent publications to use the same system at once. Amongst others, it allows easy filing access to correspondents and gives newsroom managers more control. Both innovation awards were made in the absence of Zoutnet’s computer programmer wiz, the young William Stam. William, who is currently in London, designed and wrote both programmes.

In the annual Nissan Capro Competition, the Zoutpansberger once again shared the spoils by finishing second in the category Best Newspaper: Circulation below 10 000. In this competition, the publication is judged as a whole – from editorial lay-out to print quality. With its second place, the Zoutpansberger stole a little bit of the limelight of their colleagues at the Limpopo Mirror, who won this category last year.

Overall, independent newspapers such as the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror, who do not enjoy the backing of a national group, did extremely well in all the competitions. This is also true of the Polokwane Observer under the capable guidance of Willie Esterhuysen. Less than two years after the establishment of this independent publication, the Polokwane Observer walked away with the Sanlam Awards’ prestigious Newspaper of the Year Award.