The team from the Zoutpansberger again impressed during this year’s annual Sanlam Awards for Community Press, one of the biggest national competitions for the print media industry.

The Sanlam Awards recognise excellence in community newspaper journalism, this year drawing a record number of entries. In total, 1 088 individual entries were received from 316 journalists and photographers representing 135 community newspapers. The awards ceremony took place at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Sandton, on Friday, September 7.

The top award for the Zoutpansberger as an independent newspaper, or owner/publisher newspaper not part of any of the big media conglomerates such as Caxton or Media 24, was finishing second in the Sanlam Awards for Independent Town Publications category. This is a new category for independent community newspapers with a weekly circulation of below 5 000. This category was won by Grocott’s Mail in Grahamstown, the oldest newspaper in the country currently being utilized as training facility for journalists by the Rhodes University. In the category Best Front Pages for small town newspapers, the Zoutpansberger was third. The category was won by the Limpopo Informant from Polokwane, also an independent newspaper.

The independent newspapers in Limpopo did exceptionally well overall, managing nine Top-ten mentions in the photographic categories and 11 Top-ten mentions in the writing categories. Caxton publications’ Letaba Herald and Northern Review managed two Top-ten mentions in the photographic categories only.

As for the Zoutpansberger, news editor Andries van Zyl took a national second place in the writing category for local government, with colleague Frans van der Merwe securing himself a sixth place in the same category. Andries also finished sixth in the highly competitive writing category for hard news.

The award ceremony coincided with the Forum of Community Journalists’ (FCJ) annual national seminar and AGM. During the AGM, Andries was elected as vice-chairman of the FCJ. He was also re-elected as provincial chairman of the FCJ in Limpopo.