The independent newspapers from Limpopo stole the limelight during this year’s Sanlam awards for community newspapers by collecting no fewer than seven certificates. The top performer by far was the Polokwane Observer, who once again did the province proud by winning the prize as best independent newspaper (five years and older) in the country.

The Polokwane Observer also received the prize for the independent newspaper (established) with the best front pages. Another local newspaper, the Limpopo Mirror ended second in this category.

It was, however, in the writing and photography categories that the province’s independent papers showed their worth. Keina Swart, editor of The Post in Bela-Bela, won the very competitive category for columnists. Another staff member of The Post, Louise Labuschagne, ended sixth in the Hard News category and tenth in the Sports News category.

Andries van Zyl, news editor of the Zoutpansberger added to his collection of certificates when he ended third in the Personal Finance category. The judges were especially impressed with the series of consumer-related articles that he wrote during the past year.

Herman Steyn, photographer of The Post in Bela-Bela showed that he is in a class of his own by winning the Feature section. Herman’s entries also secured him a third place in the News section and a second, fourth and tenth place in the Sports category. His entries in the Sports category were very impressive and received a lot of praise from the judges.

The event was co-sponsored by the Media Diversity and Development Agency (MDDA) this year. The function took place at the Indaba Hotel near Sandton on Friday night and was attended by representatives from newspapers as well as community radio stations from across the country.

In the corporate categories, the Lowvelder from Nelspruit excelled and won the prize as Best Newspaper. The Northern Review from Polokwane ended third in this category, after the Weslander. The Lowvelder also won the Best Front Pages category.

Desireé Rorke from the Lowvelder walked away with the coveted Journalist of the Year trophy. She also won the Investigative Reporting category and ended second in the Hard News category. The Hard News section was won by Daleen Naudé from Middelburg Observer. Tammy Petersen of People’s Post won the Human Interest category with Isolde Pistorius of Vaalweekblad taking top honours in the Personal Finance category. Ettienne van Rensburg from Vaalweekblad won first prize in the Sports Writing category.

This year’s Press Photographer of the Year trophy went to Jannie du Plessis from the Weslander. His main opposition (apart from Herman Steyn from The Post) came from Claudine Senekal from the Ladysmith Herald who won the Hard News category and from Ettienne van Rensburg from Vaalweekblad, who won the Sports category.