The Zoutpansberger was once again no stranger to the podium during the annual Sanlam/FCJ Awards for Community Press held at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg, on September 19.

The Zoutpansberger managed to hold on to its title as Best Independent Small Town Newspaper in the country for a second consecutive year, while its sister publication, the Limpopo Mirror, had a top-ten finish in the fiercely contested Hultzer Competition for community newspapers with a weekly circulation of under 15 000, coming in at number 10. The Zoutpansberger also managed to scoop up second place for best Front Pages in the Small Town Newspaper category.

The annual awards ceremony is hosted by the FCJ (Forum of Community Journalists) with Sanlam as the main sponsor of the competition for more than a decade already. It seeks to recognize and reward excellence in the South African community press industry, with 935 individual entries from 262 journalists and photographers representing 145 newspapers nationwide. Once again the entries were of such a high standard that the judges remarked that South African community journalists are second to none to main stream journalists.

With regard to the Zoutpansberger’s top achievement, the judges commented that it is a newspaper that has improved by leaps and bounds over the past couple of years.

“Its simplicity is its strong point. It seems to cover the entire range of life in the area. It is very consistent in its design. Nothing over the top, but definitely not boring. There is a lot of text here, but it isn’t overwhelming. It doesn’t fight with itself. Solid package,” the judges remarked.

In the writing categories, the Zoutpansberger’s news editor, Andries van Zyl, received several top-ten finishes. The one he is proudest of is his national seventh place in the Journalist of the Year category. This category is considered the toughest writing category to compete in and it is the first time ever that Andries has managed to get recognition in this category. Andries did just as well in the Hard News category, also considered one of the toughest categories to excel in, due to the standard of entries. He also had a national top-ten finish in this category, coming in at number six. In the Personal Finance and Business News category, Andries took fourth place.

Apart from the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror’s excellent achievements as privately owned, independent newspapers, another privately owned community newspaper from Polokwane also took top honours. The Polokwane Observer walked away with the Hultzer Trophy for best community newspaper with a circulation below 15 000 in the country.